She's Beautiful
by BittenByRadioactiveEdward
Summary: BxE.After Edward leaves Bella. He doesnt come back. She gets pregnant and moves to AZ. Now 20 years later she and her daughter visit Forks and run into Edward. No one knows he's back. What will her daughter think of Edward? What will Edward think of Bella
1. Arizona

Disclaimer: Don't own Bella, Charlie, Renee, Phil, Carlisle, Jasper, Edward -hmm sigh-, Rosalie, Esme or Alice. Well I don't own Twilight, New Moon or anything in Twilight or New Moon for that matter

**A/N: Ok so I wrote alternate beginnings but they are generally the same plot line after the first couple of chapters, just a few minor differences so, tell me what you think between the 2…**

**Arizona**

**BPOV**

"Iz," she said but sounded far away, "IZ!" Renee said closer and louder, more annoyed that time.

I was standing over the sink, still holding the same dish rag and plate I had picked up to begin my share of the daily chores 10 minutes ago. As I was about to actually touch the rag to the plate, I had looked out the window and seen a bus drive by. Plastered on it's side was a cheesy saying, "Buckle up to Be Safe and Drive Safe for the Safety of Others!" The part that had caught my eye was, "Be Safe." That was what he used to tell to me.

Her impatient yell snapped me out of my trance.

_Iz…IZ! _"What mom?" I asked, mimicking her irritated tone.

"I came by to drop off some of Claire's things," She said standing on her tip toes trying to find Claire, as if adding 2 inches to her height would help. "Is she home?" She finally asked.

"No, she's out with some friends. I think they went to the mall to shop for shoes to wear to the graduation ceremony."

Renee made an odd nasal noise and asked, "Aren't they going to be wearing those huge robes or gowns? I don't know what they are called anymore…but no one's going to be able to see what they're wearing underneath."

"Why does it matter to you, mom?" I could sense her annoyance and didn't quite understand why she was so frustrated. "Besides, after the ceremony she will take the gown off to attend various parties and will reveal what is underneath along with the pair of shoes she is hoping to find today." I hope she finds them today too because she has been out the last three Fridays in a row.

"This is a stupid argument, I am going to take Claire's stuff to her room and I will see you both Sunday for lunch?"

"First, who said we were arguing? And second, I am not so sure about this Sunday. Claire and I have plans we sort of can't get out of."

Ha. Those inescapable plans were a whole day at big surf or sun splash, which ever Claire prefers. She tans beautifully so, I am indulging a trip to the water park. After which, even though I will have used all necessary means of sun protection, sun screen, a large brimmed hat, more sun screen and then more sun screen, I will come out of the day looking like a tomato or an Albino, no tan. Claire on the other hand, will have gorgeous sun kissed skin just in time for graduation and the profuse amount of parties that precede and follow.

"Oh. Well that was our agreement, every other Sunday for lunch. You said that it couldn't be weekdays because of Claire's school, which is silly because it was determined before she was born, but Phil and I agreed and settled on Saturday night dinners. And then when she grew up and began making weekend plans and you finally began dating again, sort of, we changed it from Saturday dinners to Sunday lunches. You two agreed! You _both_ said that it worked because the only people that made Sunday lunch plans were old people anyway." I don't even think she took a breath, Renee was angry because we had kind of flaked on a couple of Lunches in the past.

"Ok that was one disastrous date that _you_ forced me to go on and PLEASE MOMMY _PLEASE_ we really can't get out of this!!!" I pleaded.

I don't know if 37 was too old to be begging my mommy but if she bought it that was all that really counted. Besides, I love spending time with Claire and it is getting so close to the time that she is going to leave me, so close to the age that I had left home and had her, my baby. I wanted to spend every last second that I could cherishing her presence, even if that meant making up some extravagant lie to get us out of lunch.

"Please mom, we promised the uncle of one of the cancer kids that Claire tutors in math that we would help him with the animals at his farm because he is short staffed because the police came and arrested like 2/3 of his employees for possession of some strange drug extracted from Zebra dung." This baffled Renee into speechlessness. YES!

Hey, there were no lines on Sundays or else we would have gladly gone Friday or Saturday.

Both Renee and I jerked our heads toward the front of the house as we heard something crash to the ground in the front entry. Claire was home, the crash was the sound of her backpack, filled to the brim with final exam study materials, books, and binders colliding with the tiled floor in the tiny entrance.

"Mom, guess what happened!" I heard her shout through the hallway. She was ecstatic.

**A/N: Yay. I don't know if I want to keep it this light hearted or gradually get more serious plot started yet but I know I'm not going to eliminate all the fun. And I will explain the Lunch deal, Claire, and Bella being called "Iz" in the next couple chapters. Its my first fanfic, so I like all feed back…review please.**


	2. Pain

**A/N: Ok so, first sorry for the wannabe cliffie last chapter I just wanted 2 show that she actually had a daughter but I wanted 2 save like her role for chapter 2 and second here's chapter 2 for the second first chapter 'Arizona'. Sorry this is so confusing im gonna get rid of the first, first chapter 'Phoenix' in like a day or so. I'm thinking in like chapter 4ish I should switch to Claire's POV. R&R and enjoy!**

Pain

**BPOV**

_Mom, guess what happened!_ I was worried for a moment but then realized that her voice was full of excitement not anger or frustration.

"WHAT?!?" I yelled in the direction of the front door in mock enthusiasm.

She appeared in the doorway. God, every time I look at her I am shocked that _she_ is part of _me_. She's beautiful. Her brown hair sat loosely on the crown of her head in a long ponytail and she used a thin, bright yellow, head band to push a few rebellious strands of hair away from her beautiful face.

In the winter, her skin was, if not the same color, one or two shades darker than my ivory skin. If we stood close, the color of our arms and faces would blend. Her beautiful eyes, like mine, are a deep chocolaty brown but always seem to catch the light when they move, it is like she is seeing something new and exciting every time she looks a different direction.

Renee and Phil always go on about how much I looked like her when I was her age. We, of course, don't see it but every time I introduce her to someone from my past, they are taken aback by our resemblance. A few even accidentally called her Bella, a name now foreign to both of us.

_WHAT?!? _"Oh. Shut up mom." She joked. Smiling she said, "The mall was really fun and school was so-so but-"

"Did you find shoes alright?" Renee interrupted noting Claire's empty hands.

"OH! Hi Grandma! I didn't even see you there. Yeah, I found 2 pairs so I brought them home so mom could see and tell me which she liked better." Renee nodded and then stared off into space, thinking. "But, anyway, so at school today they announced that-"

"Well, can I see your shoes too?" My mother cut in again.

"Yeah of course grandma, it is an open invitation." She gave Renee a smile and appeared so sincere but I knew that smile, the one that said 'ok now shut up and let me finish my story.' Claire was far too polite to openly reprimand her own grandma.

"Thanks sweetie, I'll go take a look." Renee ducked out of the kitchen.

Ok. My turn to talk. "So, what did they announce at school hon? No interruptions this time I promise."

She snorted. "Ok. Well, they announced that the trip to Ecuador to aid orphaned children was canceled!"

Ok, What? "Um. I usually think you and I are pretty in tune with each other but I have to admit I don't know why you are excited, you were like the first person to sign up for that trip. You wanted to go so badly babe." Ah, my daughter, the world changer.

"Yes, I am sad that I'm not going but, do you remember what it conflicted with?" I shook my head, drawing a blank. "Forks! If I went on the Ecuador trip, I couldn't go to Forks with you because they don't offer a flight to Ecuador out of Seatac at the time that I would need to leave." She was so excited because she had never been to Forks and she wanted to see everything I saw.

"Now we can go the full 2 months and see everything!"

I felt my head start to swim and my focus blurred. I steadied myself on the counter, Renee couldn't be here for this, she would try to "help me" again and I really don't need or want her or her therapist's help.

Renee poked her head in the kitchen, she was dialing frantically on her phone paying no attention to my dizzy state.

"Iz, hon, I gotta go, Phil just called something about the country club sprinkler system malfunctioning on the President's golf game but I'll call later today and we'll discuss lunch" And she was gone.

I could feel my palms sweating, slipping on the counter behind me. _Forks_. I cant go back there. I have nothing to show Claire that wouldn't make me feel exactly like this.

Every time I think of him, how he left, why he left, the shooting pain that goes straight from above my belly to the bottom of my sternum would return.

I massaged the pain, it never went away but I couldn't just sit there and let it burn through my stomach, the incessant pain continues until it stops. I, in the 18 years since he left, have not been able to find a sure fire way to escape the pain.

"Claire…" I managed and sank to the floor hugging my knees.

I think she had been talking about the odd sprinkler incident with the president and had her back to me, fixing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She now turned seeing me on the floor, she knew.

In her younger years, this had happened more frequently, more intensely and for longer periods of time. It would happen the same way every time and god bless my baby, she would sit beside me holding my hand or rubbing my back until the pain finally subsided.

When she was old enough to grasp what had happened, I told her, I loved someone a lot and he loved me too. His name was Edward but one day he left and told me he couldn't and didn't love me at all. I never saw him again and when I thought about him it hurt because he had loved me one day and so suddenly, the next day, he had not. How else do you explain it to a 10 year old?

Now, she leaned into me, I was sobbing I wish I could stop, be strong for my angel, the only person that makes me want to get up in the morning but I just couldn't. I had to wait for it to pass and I hope she understands that.

"Mom," she said, barely whispering, "Tell me about Edward."

**A/N: sorry its kinda short, not much dialogue I really like describing things, it's a disease, I know. Next chapter is gonna be about Her time without Edward and then they are gonna go 2 Forks YAY! Im totally open to suggestions because sometimes I think my ideas get old so review. plz? **


	3. Who is Edward Cullen?

**A/N: Ok so ch. 2 and 3 are kind of filler chapters until they get to Forks but they have a few important details. I think this chapter is a bit longer than the previous 2 Yay! Enjoy!**

Who is Edward Cullen?

**BPOV**

_Tell me about Edward._ Edward. My breath hitched, the name caught in my throat, unable to be spoken.

"Couch" I squeaked instead, clutching my stomach.

"I think telling me about him would help and I really want to know mom. I want to know who he was, what he was like, what he did." She smiled, _smiled?_ "I want to know what it was like to be in love. In love with someone who loved you back and would do anything for you."

_Love._

_Edward._

She hooked her arm under mine and hoisted me up. The pain flared again as I realized how easy that would have been for Edward and remembered how toned and beautiful he was. Claire supported my weight against her hip as she dragged me to the couch in the living room. The cool leather on my skin helped, it seemed as if it absorbed the pain until it was barely on the surface.

Claire watched me the same way she had for the past 18 years of her life as I began to calm, I knew that she would be there always in reach and happiness rushed in.

Maybe if I pretended I was 17 again and that he was still here, that I could see his face and his skin, hear his words, almost feel his cool touch. Pretend he loves me, know he does right this minute he misses me and then the words came.

"You have heard of love at first sight right?" I chuckled.

"Sure. Oh come on mom are you serious, that's kind of cheesy."

"Hey, hold on let me finish. When I moved to Forks, I wasn't like you."

"Everyone says you were _exactly_ like me."

"I _looked_ like you but I wasn't out going, and you know how clumsy I am. I was nervous that I wouldn't find a niche. You know, people who were willing to be my friends and actually liked being around me." Thinking about it now, it was a pretty silly fear seeing as everyone at Forks High school loved me.

"It was a pretty small school only 358 kids Freshman through Senior. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. Except for Edward."

Oh. Shit. I can't tell her why because then I would have to tell her that the boy I fell in love with was a vampire, she'll think I have gone of the deep end and have me committed.

Avoiding the parts about his, well, different way of living, I proceeded to explain my arrival at Forks High School. I told her about Edward's extremely odd behavior on the first day, how he had saved me and how we began to fall madly into a love so deep, I still hadn't fully clawed my way out of it.

I couldn't tell her that he was, and still is a vampire though. I carefully evaded the topics of how he had found me in the ally in Port Angeles, how he had saved me from being crushed by Tyler's truck and why he was so strange on that first day by using tiny lies.

It killed me to keep it from her but what if I told her and she didn't believe me. I wouldn't be able to live knowing that my daughter thought I was mental when I was just trying to share the most important, meaningful secret of my life

"For my birthday, the Cullens threw me a party. They were extremely wealthy and I had always begged them not to spend money on me but they insisted. Jasper, Edward's brother, had never exactly approved of me because he thought I was too clumsy and relied on Edward for the simplest tasks."

"Dick." Claire muttered.

"Watch your mouth and I don't think he was. He attended anger management classes because of his short temper and wasn't doing well around regular people so, he usually kept his distance." Well, I thought, it is semi-true because he didn't do well around people but that was because he might attack and drink them dry.

"When I was opening presents, I slid my finger under the wrapping paper to break the seal of the tape but instead, I got a tiny paper cut and the tiniest amount of blood pooled out of it. Immediately, Jasper went off on me. He began screaming about my stupid clumsiness, how I always cried for attention and how I just wanted Edward because he could keep me walking upright."

I wish Jasper and I could have been closer, he always seemed so easy to talk to. Easy for me I suppose, he was probably fighting every urge he had, every impulse to just simply lean forward and have me.

"Then, he jumped at me."

"Wait, you mean like 'jump at you' like attack and start like hitting you?"

Not even close. "I guess you could say that. But before he could, Edward, who had been sitting on the couch on my right, closed himself around me. After that, everything was different. When Edward would come over, he would watch TV with Charlie instead of spend time with me and when he would smile, it was just for show, it wasn't what he felt."

Thinking about it made me sick. As I had continued telling Claire about that life altering, hope shattering, reality crushing time in my life, the pain had become easier to manage. Whenever I said Edward's name or, mentioned the Cullens, I only felt a shock. It hurt but it was quick. But now, remembering exactly how he had left me, why he had left me, the pain was piling on, it was unremitting, every time I hoped that it was over, it would all come back to me.

I sat up and looked at Claire, her eyes were sad, I think she knew what was coming next.

"It wasn't long after that when he asked if he could come over, it was strange though, I could tell that something was definitely off. When he asked to go for a walk, we took only a few steps into the forest on the east side of Charlie's house and that was when he told me."

Oh god. No. My chest began to ache, my lungs constricted. I was doing so well, I wanted to remember. Maybe I only wanted to remember the part that made me whole. In 18 years I had never talked about my time with Edward and never, not once, even thought about voicing what it felt like to be left so abruptly that it felt like he had ripped my feeling, my emotion, clean out of my body so that I was just a shell.

I began hyperventilating, "He, he…he" I sobbed, "He told me…told me that he" I took another breath. "He told me that he didn't love me."

I screamed. I screamed like no other. Maybe it was saying it. Maybe it was having it said that made it so real. It was there, the pain that was so ridiculous after 18 years but I couldn't hold it back I just had to wait and endure it.

_Breathe_

_Breathe mom._

I could hear her say it and I would do anything for my Claire so, I did. I took a huge breath and the fresh cool air filled my lungs and pushed the purity through my head. As I exhaled, I could feel the pain subside it was like all of the air that I had breathed in had grabbed a piece of the pain and was now being pushed out.

She looked at me, I could tell she wanted to ask me 1000 questions, I could see them sparkling in her beautiful brown eyes. " Is he my dad?" She finally blurted.

Woah. Well the question is valid since the only thing she knew about her father was that I hadn't seen him since before she was born. "No, Honey. If he had gotten me pregnant, he would have never left. Edward wasn't like that."

"Well, how do you know I mean there really isn't a way to tell is there."

"Edward and I never-" I began

"You guys never had sex?! Oh my gosh have you ever even had sex?"

Ok. That was abrupt. "Ok. Think clearly, of course I have…you know or else you wouldn't be alive and with Edward, things like _that_ were so complicated. I wasn't like Edward and the rest of his family and if I wasn't, things couldn't go very far." I hoped that my tone stated that this conversation was over.

Either Claire didn't hear it or chose it ignore it, either way, she persisted. "You mean like religiously? Oh my gosh did you guys ever even kiss?"

"I suppose it was a life-style difference that kept us from going too far. And of course we kissed." Pure truth.

"With tongue?" She asked, skeptical.

"I refuse dignify that question with an actual response." This was becoming absurd.

"That means no. Have you ever kissed someone with tongue?"

"Um. Hi. I did go to college you know." She cant one up me, I'm the mom.

She snorted. "I'm going to miss you, mom."

She was talking about college. "You will miss me for about a week and then you will make friends and go to class, watch sports and do all that fun college stuff. Besides, I think I got us out of lunch tomorrow for Sun Splash, you will be so sick of me by the end of the day you will wish you were going to NYU instead of ASU." I glanced at the clock, it had been hours since Renee had left.

"Uh. Can we go to Big Surf instead?"

"What ever you want."

And then the phone rang. Ah yes Renee was going to call about lunch.

Claire sprinted to the phone. "Hello." I loved her phone voice it was about half an octave above her regular voice.

"Mom!" she yelled, "The kitten's leaving the Lion in noodle basket at the yum yum rock." That was code for 'Renee's on the phone. I'm leaving it on the kitchen table.'

I got off of the couch a bit too quickly and my head rushed. I waited for it to pass and walked to the kitchen. " Hello mother," I began.

**A/N: Ok so. That last part was just sort of for fun. I think I'm just gonna skip over sunsplash and graduation because nothing really important happens unless everyone else wants it and then I'll gladly write a sunsplash/graduation chapter but it would just be like another filler. But I really want to get to forks so, review plz!**


	4. The Letter

I do not own New Moon, Twilight, Joann craft stores, road games, Books on tape, CDs, Laminated maps or felt tipped pens.

**A/N: Ok so it mite be a couple of days before I update because I have graduation and I'm gonna be at my dad's house but I mite get another chapter out either tonight or tomorrow night. Its all up in the air. This chapter is longer so enjoy!**

The Letter

**BPOV**

Claire's graduation ceremony was beautiful, aside from the one very annoying mother behind me, and slightly comical. Well first, the mother behind freaking sobbed and moaned at _every_ name that was called which became a bit irritating. But it was funny because someone in her grade had organized for them each to hold a small piece of paper with their name on it and as they shook their principal's hand while they received their diploma they put the piece of paper in his hand. When he had finished calling the names, the ground around him was littered with 780 tiny slips of paper with each graduate's name scrawled on them.

"Mom, I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose!" Claire yelled in the general direction of my room.

I was packing my suitcase and was nervous about the weather in Forks. I kept pulling everything out and repacking, adding and subtracting items until I was sure that I was ready.

Claire barged into my room took one look at my bag and went off again. "Oh my god. Are you serious? That's all the crap that packed in the first, mom. Ok. I am taking this." She grunted as she threw my bag over her back and stormed out of my room, "And you get your butt in the car!" she yelled back at me.

"Ok just a minute." I said as I was about to grab a scarf because I was only wearing a tank top and jeans. Claire rushed in grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the door.

"Oh, no you don't. You said just a minute 45 minutes ago and now, we might miss the flight. Butt. In. Now." She motioned to the car.

We didn't miss the flight and security was a breeze because we had planned out what to wear. No metal, not even a bobby pins and we put nothing that even resembled a tube of lip gloss, concealer or god forbid an actual water bottle in my purse and her back pack.

When we were finally on the plane, Claire had to bring up Edward. "Well if he isn't my dad, who is then?" She argued.

My huge break down hadn't hardly come up since the actual even because of how busy Claire was. She was always out either taking finals or getting ready for graduation. Before I knew it, here we were on the plane to SeaTac airport in Washington where we would then drive the excruciating 5 hours to Forks. Time really does fly and I hope it continues to fly during that goddamn car ride.

I couldn't just ignore her but maybe, if I bored her, she would forget her actual question.

"Ok. First you have to understand my state, I was more than distraught. I wasn't thinking clearly. I didn't want anything to remind me of Edward and everything to help me forget him. That's why I asked everyone to start calling me Iz, even hearing my name, Bella, reminded me of Edward saying it." I can still hear it, clear as day, his smooth, lustrous voice whispering my name, his beautiful lips on my ear.

"Yeah that still doesn't tell me who my dad is." Ah. Teenagers, when do they ever quit?

"Why does it matter, you've never met or will meet him anyway?" I challenged.

"I am a part of him. I am 23 chromosomes you and 23 chromosomes him. I am not biologically yours any more than I am his and if what I have said is true WHICH IT IS, I took biology and human anatomy, if I shouldn't care about _his_ paternity it is equal to saying I shouldn't care about _your_ maternity because it is _the same._" I almost smiled at how set she was on proving herself.

"I am your mom!" I said in a harsh whisper but my voice began to escalate and I continued, "A mother gives birth, that is the biological bond, but a mom watches her baby grow and change, she is there for every momentous occasion. I am your mom, I saw you take your first steps, and you whispered your first words in my ear. 17 years later I saw you graduate from high school. You are mine, mine, mine!" I was practically screaming.

As I finished we both noticed how out of breath we were and how loudly we had been speaking. Babies stopped crying to turn their heads towards us and all conversation in a 3 row radius had halted for the other passengers to peer over the seats to have a better look at the 2 noisy women disrupting their flight.

We could think of nothing else to do but just laugh at how ridiculous we must have sounded but even under her laughter, I could see how badly she wanted to know.

After everything had calmed following our verbal battle, Claire fell asleep in the crook of my neck, it made me think of her when she was barely 5 on this same flight. It was the only other time she had seen Charlie or been to Forks and she remembered none of it.

I took the time while she was asleep to write her a letter explaining her father and why it had been that way.

_Dear Claire, _

_I know that I have not always been the easiest mother but have always done my absolute best because you are my savior. When Edward left, I was in a daze, as I said before I just wanted to forget him but everything that I did seemed to remind me of him. That was why, in the February after he left, I slept with your father. I thought maybe doing something that Edward and I had never experienced would help me forget him. It did not bring any closure to Edward's departure but it did bring me you. Had I not had you to function for, I don't think I would have functioned at all. You were and are my entire life, the reason that my eyes open in the morning. You saved me from my downward spiral. I do admit that sometimes I slip but you have always been the one to pick me up and put me back on my feet. That is why I am telling you that your father's name is Mike Newton. He and I worked together at his father's camping supply store and he had had a crush on me since my first day at Forks High School. I am deeply ashamed that I slept with Mike, if anyone knew, they would find that very humorous but never once have I regretted it because he brought you to me and for that I will forever be thankful_. _I love you sweet heart and when you read this, if you could please not mention it to Charlie you would be my bestest friend in the whole world. (Like I have any other friends but please because Charlie doesn't know and I would really like to keep it that way.)_

_Loves forever,_

_Mom_

I began to cry but only so much that a single drop managed to escape the curves of my face and splash onto the plain, white, notebook paper. I folded it into thirds and shoved it down the side of Claire's backpack where I knew she would find it, eventually.

I rested my cheek against the top Claire's head, which still rested gently on my shoulder. Our breathing became synchronized as I too fell into a deep sleep.

**A/N: Whoo-eee. I so could have ended it there but it would have been a really short chapter so, yeah and yeah Mike is the dad I'm kind of upset about it but I (and others) didn't want it to be some random dude and who else could it be? So here's the next part.**

As the plane landed, both Claire and I both jumped awake. The jerk of her head collided with my cheek and a piece of my skin was caught between her skull any my teeth, I could feel the tiny slice on the inside of my upper cheek. Ouch.

I like SeaTac because it has passenger walk ways incased in glass that cross over where the cars come to pick us up. I had Charlie on my cell phone as he described exactly where he was. I saw his tiny frame a couple of signs away. We hung up and within minutes, Claire and I located him with no problem.

Charlie isn't as young as I remember him but he certainly is not old. He and Renee had me when they were fairly young so he is only in his late 50s early 60s. My parents had always refused to tell me their age Renee said it ruined the magic. The magic of what?

"Oh my gosh bells your Christmas cards have done you no justice!"

"Iz, Dad." I reminded him as he pulled me into a huge hug. Very uncharacteristic of Charlie but I understand, he hasn't seen me in nearly 12 years. When he finally let me go, his gaze shifted to Claire.

"Hi Claire, I'm Charlie." He said softly and put his hand out to shake hers.

"Hey Charlie!" Claire said not wanting to be too formal. She moved forward but instead of taking his hand gave him a quick hug. I could see Charlie's face light up. "Its nice to meet you, uh, again but really for the first time because I don't really remember anything from when I was 5." We all smiled and began to walk toward the luggage carousel.

"What do your bags look like, I'll grab them real quick." He said noticing that most of the bags had been dispensed onto the round carousel.

"Well, mine is a black one but the tag says Isabella Swan and Claire's is a large black duffel bag with pink woodland creatures on it." I said, giggling.

"Woodland creatures? That are pink?" Charlie asked.

"Well, it is really easy to find at the airport. Plus, mom and I got _really_ bored one Sunday after lunch and went to the Joann craft store. We bought like 50 pink woodland creature patches, you know like bunnies, deer, raccoons all that good stuff and couldn't decide where to put them." Claire could hardly speak she was laughing so hard.

"So we found her duffel bag stuffed in a closet and spent the entire day and half the night ironing the creatures on." I finished for her.

We looked up to see that Charlie had a hug smile on his face and he was laughing too. Probably at how strange we are together.

"Well," He said, which caused more laughter to erupt from me and Claire, "I'm glad to see that you two are so close."

"Hey," Claire managed, "There it is."

Charlie walked over to grab the bag and sitting right next to it was a large black suitcase. He checked the tag and grabbed them both.

"Wow, your suit cases are even close. How special." He mumbled.

"So, Charlie do you have any fun car games for the drive home?" I began my interrogation.

"Uh. I didn't know I was supposed to have any."

"What about CDs?"

"The cruiser isn't allowed to have CDs it's distracting when I'm on duty."

"Uhg. You brought the Cruiser?" I always felt like I was some sort of criminal when I was in that car.

"What else would I have brought, bel—Iz?" He corrected himself.

"Ok. Good point. So what about books on tape?"

"Same as CDs."

"Do you have a map?" Claire chimed in.

"Well, sure. It's one of those fancy ones that's laminated so you can write on it and then wipe it off when you're done." He replied, proud that he actually had something that we wanted.

"Ok. Cool. Do you have any pens to write with?"

"I have a couple in the glove box. Do you mind checking Iz?"

I quickly found a felt tipped red pen and a felt tipped blue pen. Then, as quickly as I could, I unbuckled my seat belt and climbed in back with Claire. Charlie had removed the bars usually separating the driver from the back seat.

"I could write you a ticket for that." He said, pretending to disapprove but I could see that he didn't want me to do it again.

"Ok, so I think we should plan out the places we want to go and mark them on the map. So that we can then plan good routes to take, maybe 2 places in 3 days and then drive back to Forks." She was very proud of her idea.

"I want to go to Seattle at least once. Oh and Charlie we're open for suggestions and if you would like to come on one of the weekend trips, you're more than welcome because I know you work during the week." She called to the front of the cruiser.

"Ok, Seattle. Do you wan to go to Mt. Rainier and take some of the trails around the bottom since neither of us are much for camping?"

"Mmmk." She circled the tiny words Mt. Rainier on the map. "How about the San Juan Islands?"

"Are those the ones where you have to bike everywhere?"

"Not necessarily, we could sail. I hear there are porpoises and lots of seals during the summer." She said scanning the map for more options.

"Ok. You can put it on there." Maybe she'll forget later. "What about the Olympic Park Institute. It is usually a camp but there are also hotels and they are on the edge of a lake. I think its Crescent Lake."

"Sounds nice. Oh look, the Freeway loops around it and there's a Port-"

"Port Angeles?" I already knew it was a yes. It was the only place that didn't take freaking 100 hours to get to from Forks.

"Yeah. It looks like it's right on the water."

"Mhmm. That's what makes it a _port_. It's beautiful and not too far away from Forks. We could definitely go for a day."

We spent half of the car ride marking everything that sounded good. Even taking Charlie's suggestions. Mt. Saint Helens. The Cascades. Various Beaches. Cross the Narrows Bridge, we would do it on the ride today but it was still beautiful. The next half of the car ride, we cut some of the absurd places and activities. River rafting. Parasailing. Walla Walla (Where the apples are grown) and many more.

Finally. I recognized the dense green forests around us and the thick blanket of clouds that were so familiar even having been gone for nearly 2 decades. We would be home any minute now. As Charlie pulled the Cruiser into the spot it had occupied every day I lived in Forks, I glanced over and saw my truck. _My truck_.

"Charlie is that my truck?"

"Oh yeah. I kept it running and sometimes people come by to borrow it when they are getting repairs on their own cars, I am like the one-man Forks rent-a-car. But you can use it while your hear." He smiled and unlocked the door.

I was glad to be home and gently shook Claire into consciousness. Maybe this would be fun.

"It's so cloudy. Why would anyone want to live here?" She mumbled. Still half asleep.

"You grow to love it and sometimes the clouds even protect you deepest, darkest secret." I whispered in her ear.

**A/N: WooHoo! We're in Forks baby yeah! (Ok I just watched Austin Powers, sorry) but sorry about the really long part about the map (which is actually relevant later on) and I just miss Washington SOOO much so I wrote about it a lot to remember it. Yes that is right I usually go every summer for about 2 months but this year im only going for a week. Ok im sorry about the long author's note but I have something else to say. I know some people might be pissed about the mike thing but im just gonna say now. Would u rather it b some one Bella knows or just some random, horny college guy. And if it wasn't mike that got her pregnant it was either gonna b Tyler or Eric EEW. Review plz! Much love…**


	5. Forks

**A/N: YAY! It's finally up! I'm sorry it took so long, a had a crap load to do around the house and my dad's office. I want the fun part of summer to start! Well I laughed really hard the whole time I was writing this but it probably wont be as funny to you as it is to me, whichever, I hope u like it. And Edward is officially back. I have the next 2 or 3 chapters outlined all I need to do is write them which wont take more than a day 4 each. I'm sorry for the long A/N but THE TRADITION STANDS! Enjoy.**

Forks

**Bella's POV**

Miraculously, the past week has been perfect. Everything has gone our way, our trip to Mt. Rainier was on the what Charlie said was the sunniest day of the summer so far and the trials through the Olympic Park were beautiful, lush and green, often seeming as if we were in a post card.

Having already ventured to the skirts of Mt. Rainier and the depths of the Olympic Park forests, I realized, that I hadn't given Claire a proper tour of Forks. So one morning, I dragged her out of bed, a thick fog still draping over Charlie's roof, spilling past mine and Claire's window. We had to share my room because Charlie was up at all hours watching sports in the living room where the only other sleeping option, the sofa, rested.

"Good lord mom, what is it like three in the morning?" She croaked, confused by the fog.

My watch said 7:30, "Hardly. Now get up and take a quick shower so that you don't use all of the hot water. We're journeying into a far off land known as Forks High School and then on to the kingdom of Newton's camping something or other for sailing supplies and our quest will finally end at the grocery store." Ending my weirdly medieval, slightly odd speech, I added, "Charlie needs milk and I need more supplies to make a decent dinner."

She cringed at my comparison of our tour of Forks and ancient expeditions of knights to far off kingdoms and wordlessly plodded off to the bathroom.

We ate a small breakfast with Charlie and headed off to the high school. We walked through the hallways and looked around various classrooms, no one bothered to lock anything up because it was, after all, Forks. I did most of the talking and Claire asked an occasional question about friends, where we hung out on the weekends and what we did. _What friends?_ I thought, silently, to myself.

After about an hour and a half, maybe two hours, we bade farewell to Forks high school and headed to the Newton's outdoors store. The odd thing about the school was that it was _exactly_ the same. The lunch tables were still set up in long rows, the chairs in each classroom were in the same formation and the blacktop tables in the biology room hadn't changed except for a few more pencil marks, documentation of students who had preceded and followed the Class of 2007. Except for that it was as if we had picked up and left and no one had come in to take our places.

Claire glanced at the name of the store and stared at me, mouth open. "Is this Newton, as in Mike Newton my alleged father?"

Fuck. Mike. I wonder if he is still here. I cant go in there because what if he is? Fuck. What do I tell Claire? "Oh. No. Mike was Mr. Newton's reason for staying here so, after graduation he left Forks. The people who run the store are their cousins who wanted to escape the big city of Gig Harbor, population, 10,000." Lie. Lie. Lie.

"Why don't you run in and start getting the stuff while I run to the gas station? It'll save time. Here's my wallet, you know what we need, don't go crazy." She rolled her eyes humorously.

That was a really crap cover up but it worked, to some extent.

**Claire's POV**

I was a bit suspicious of her sudden need to refuel the truck, but my mother had always been a bit scattered and so was this list of stuff. It ranged from bug spray to hairnets, yes, hairnets. The only employee that I could locate was a man in his late 30s with blond hair and sort of lonely eyes, like they had once had something that was abruptly taken away.

**A/N: I didn't really know how to make u guys get it so im just gonna tell u. It's Mike.**

"Excuse me," I called, "Could you please tell me where you keep the hairnets?"

When his eyes flicked up from the shelf that he was marking, something sparked. Oh, creepy. Maybe he wasn't a lost soul, just a horny nearly 40 year old dude in a town where he could not easily get laid.

"We don't carry hairnets, I'm sorry. Is there anything else I can get you?" Was that a suggestion for more than just camping supplies? Gross. No. Nothing involving you, or me or you "giving" anything to me.

"Well, if you could point me in the direction of the bug spray that would be great." I choked out and plastered on a smile.

He smiled back. Shit. No. Stupid Claire.

"Its right over here, I'll show you." He spoke rather quickly and before I could cut him off, he began to talk again. "Hairnets and bug spray huh? Are you attending a wilderness lunch lady convention" He joked. I didn't laugh but he moved closer. Oh god, he's coming onto me. "You know, you look like someone I knew a very long time ago. How old are you, uh..." He was asking for my name _and my age. GROSS!_

Lie. I told myself. LIE!

I think we arrived at the aisle but he just leaned his arm against one of the metal beams and crossed his legs. Was he trying to be cool or smooth? That was cool in like the 80s. He leaned even closer and eyed my face and then my chest. Woah there.

"Claire, I'm fifteen." I managed the lie about my age.

He paused for a moment, peering up at the ceiling. "Here's the bug spray." He motioned with his eyes. He was using his eyebrows too much.

He hesitated around the aisles where I continued to gather my mother's odd list of supplies. Ear plugs, tin foil, 10 yards of rope. Iz and rope do not mix. He, being the only employee needed a the store, also rang my stuff out.

When I was finally free, I noticed my mother's stupid truck parked in the middle of the parking lot. Why didn't she come in? I saw her notice me and the truck's ancient engine revved to live, gargling and spitting, sort of like an ancient man waking from a deep sleep. Gross.

I hosted the stuff and smiled, only my mom. That's why I love her.

**A/N: I have a tiny story which sparked this part and actually my basic idea for the entire concept of She's Beautiful the end of the chapter. Enjoy!**

**Bella's POV**

Claire hopped in the truck in a huff. "Why didn't you come in?"

"Well, I just got here."

"You could have gotten here a _little_ sooner. Some creeper like followed me around the store."

"Well did you find an employee so that you weren't alone?" I asked, there are no creepers in Forks but maybe he was just passing through.

"Um. Yeah. He _was_ an employee. He asked me my name and how old I was and told me I looked like someone he used to know. I thought he was going abduct me."

Oh god. Could it be Mike? How nasty would that be? How _hilarious_ would that be? If Mike knew he was coming on to his own daughter because she looked so much like me. I suppressed the hysteria pressing at my lungs, nose and mouth. "What did he look like?" I asked and I couldn't help but giggle slightly.

She turned on me, astonished. _What?_ "Do you think my abduction is funny?" She heard herself sounding ridiculous and couldn't help but smile.

"No because you weren't abducted." I snorted. I couldn't help it. I know it was sick and wrong but still outrageously funny to think of him hitting on his own daughter.

We were now sitting in the parking lot at the grocery store. "He was blonde and creepy." She pouted, I began to shake and laugh uncontrollably "And that is enough!" She shouted, barely containing her own laughter. I was now laughing because if you looked Mike Newton up in my personal dictionary his definition would be blond and creepy. It was times like this when I realized how alike we really were.

Once inside the store, we decided that it would be best to, again, split up to achieve minimum boring, useless, no fun time.

"You go get some fruits and vegetables. Those are all of the way on the right and I'll get better cereal, milk and various meat products." All Charlie had were some chips, salsa, sour cream and raisin bran.

"Ok. Can we get cookies?" Claire loves cookies.

"Yeah I guess. Oh and you can get carbs like maybe bread, and some pasta." Maybe I would make spiral noodles tonight. When I turned to ask Claire she was already running for the baked goods section. "Hey get back here! Don't go crazy maybe like a pack of a dozen cookies not the whole bakery please. And make sure to get spiral noodles along with regular spaghetti."

"Fine. Can I go now?"

"Go ahead." I waved her on with my hand.

**Claire's POV**

Spiral noodles? Don't like 5 year olds eat spiral noodles? Maybe Charlie likes spiral noodles. I didn't know my way around the store so I found an employee who could tell me where I could find all of my items. She told me which aisles they were found on and lent me a pen to write it all on my arm.

I weaved through the tiny halls of canned soup and boxed fruit, _nasty_. Everything was surprisingly easy to find and I saved the spaghetti and spiral noodles for last. When I arrived at the pasta aisle, I thought I could find the spiral noodles next to the spaghetti but I only found the straight noodles. I glanced at my arm and noticed that the spiral noodles were down aisle 5 not 2. I grabbed the spaghetti and headed over to aisle 5. The label on the sign almost made me laugh out loud. It read, '5-FUN FOODS'. Only in Forks, I thought to myself. I looked down the narrow passage and nearly fell over.

30 feet in front of me, in the tiny, and recently somewhat creepy town of Forks, Washington stood the most beautiful boy I had seen maybe in my entire life. He was definitely my age maybe 19 or 20. God, why would someone so beautiful live here? He was perfect, his skin was pale, flawless, as white as whole milk. His jaw was angular and his features were all straight. In profile I couldn't see his eyes but he looked solemn, looking for something he had lost long ago. Not at all like he was reading the nutrition facts on a box of Spongebob Square Pants Cheese its. Why were those in the fun foods aisle?

I tried not to stare but he was like a magnet. His coppery hair was the model for all wannabe badass teenage guys. It was uneven and careless but again, gorgeous. My eyes studied him, his posture, which was confident, his wide shoulders squared evenly over his body. He was dressed very nicely for Forks and for a man for that matter. I wonder if he has a sister or a mom that takes him shopping, probably a sister.

I have to show my mom. She'll be so proud of me for finding someone so gorgeous in _Forks._ Maybe I should talk to him to make sure he isn't some psycho. Actually no, it doesn't matter, I'll get Iz.

I was surprised at how difficult it was to find her in such a tiny store but I grabbed her and began explaining the 'fun foods' aisle and the super gorgeous and told her I couldn't even describe how gorgeous he was.

"I'm serious mom, it was like being in a dream. I'm not even sure if he is real or I made him up. That's how perfect he is."

**Bella's POV**

"…That's how perfect he is." She was jumping up and down.

Leave it to the Swan girls to find beautiful people in Forks.

"Claire, this is absurd. I am not 18, I am 37 and do not like the same guys that you do." I tried to sound convincing but she rolled her eyes at me and pulled me to the 'Fun Foods" aisle.

"Just pretend you're young again, _please mom_." She wanted me to be excited.

"When I was your age I had-" We arrived at the aisle and I looked down past the boxes and cans to the bags filled with oddly shaped chips. "Edward?" I breathed.

He snapped his head up. His eyes were huge, moving rapidly between Claire and I. "Bella?" He spoke, not even a whisper and I could hear the pain in his voice, his beautiful, musical voice that my memory had done no justice.

"WHAT?!" Claire looked up at me.

Shit. My head was spinning. The lights were too bright, everything, even my breathing was too loud. I couldn't look away from her. How am I supposed to explain his beautiful, boyish youth when he is supposed to be a middle aged man?

I needed to make sure he was real but when I glanced up all I saw was his leg stepping out of the thin aisle and his copper hair turned and was moving too quickly down the aisle next to ours and he was gone.

**A/N:OK sorry if there are mistakes in the beginning I started writing like 12 last night because I couldn't sleep because I was so excited and im so excited to post that I don't really want to proof read so, sorry! YAYYYYYY! EDWARD! There will be much, much more I promise a thousand times. Ok so for my little story. That actually happened to my friend (The whole mike hitting on Claire) she met her mom's high school boy friend and apparently she looks exactly like her mom in high school and he was stuck in the past and kept like coming on to my friend, it was HILARIOUS to hear her talk about it. Ok so anyway I hope you like it and I promise, promise, promise that there will be way more Edward in the coming chapters. Yet another long A/N review please…I love everyone who has reviewed so far and will be reviewing in the near future.(like now?) THANK YOU! **


	6. CD, Tickets and Some Pictures

**A/N: OK so this chapter was WAY longer than I expected it to be, I was gonna have this chapter and ch. 7 be one chapter but this went too long and I'm sooo sorry I would cut it down but, I don't know how, I am a terrible editor. But the second I post this chapter, I am starting chapter 7. Promise, promise, promise. Again, sorry.**

CD, Tickets and some Pictures

**Bella's POV**

I hadn't expected him to be so young. He was the same boy I had fallen in love with 19 years ago, he hadn't grown or changed except for his eyes, they were hollow, the life that I had loved in them was lost but he was still beautiful. I know it is crazy but I still _want _him like I did when I was 18. Claire was confused and angry looking, I cant believe I just blurted his name out like that.

"We are _not_ going back to Charlie's until you tell me what the _fuck_ is going on." She white knuckled the steering wheel, hands at 10 and 2.

"Well do you have your cell?" I asked. I should probably call Charlie and tell him that he would be on his own tonight.

She handed it to me and I robotically dialed Charlie's number, shocked to the point of almost no words. He picked up and I told him that Claire and I were taking a trip, maybe over night. He said that it was ok because he was in Seattle on some business and we would have been on our own anyways.

After I hung up, I watched Clair's beautiful eyes disappear under her tightly closed eyelids and she pressed her lips together. When she opened her eyes, she had calmed and asked me at a decent volume if I would like to explain what was happening.

"He's supposed to be _old_!" She ranted, "Like aged and learned, he is supposed to look like her has lived twice as long as that guy in the grocery store looked. And how did he know your name?"

Maybe I could tell her he was a vegan, ha ironic, but vegans have really high energy and they look super young right?

"He's a vegan…" I attempted weakly. I already sounded defeated.

"Psh. You shouldn't have even tried. That will not fly, no person, no matter how hard they try can look half their age, _vegan _or not." She watched my reaction to every word she said, studying me like a piece of something that she could dissect and solve.

"I could ruin everything that they have built, everything that they stand for if I tell you. Everything that Edward's dad built could be ruined. Do you really want to know?" I looked into her eyes, not blinking.

She needed to know that this was not a little secret. If she knew, it would be with her until she no longer existed. Everyday, something would remind her of it. Every person she saw, especially the beautiful ones, she would suspect. Wherever she went, she would see them or feel like in a second, her life could be over.

"I want the truth, mom." She dipped her head and looked up at me through her eyelashes. Her voice was barely audible, she was terrified.

"I want to tell you what actually happened, what high school was really like for me and you are going to think I have gone crazy. Just realize though, that if I actually were crazy, I wouldn't realize that I sounded crazy." I held in my laughter as I pictured her face when I told her that my high school boyfriend was a _vampire_.

While I pretended to think about where to start, I kept thinking, 'this is a mistake. Why did I have to open my stupid mouth when I saw him? I shouldn't tell her but I'm too far in to just back out, I am going to tell her and make her understand.'

I took a huge breath, hoping that fresh oxygen would help dislodge the words stuck in the back of my throat. I let my breath out and with it came words. "On my first day at Forks High School, as you know, it seemed like Edward hated me. He even asked for a class transfer from _only_ biology and I had a sneaking suspicion that it was because of me."

"Does Charlie know?" Claire interrupted.

"Know what?"

"About this whole big secret…" She asked making a sweeping motion with one of her arms.

"No and you will not say _anything._ Ok, so as I was saying, Edward really didn't like me. Well, at least that is what I thought. He didn't hate me, he wanted me. He wanted me _so_ much that he feared that if he were anywhere near me, he would blow his and his families entire cover by, um, having me." I chose my words carefully, knowing that I was being cryptic but I was terrified to tell her the truth.

"He _wanted you_. That's stupid. Their cover? What did they work for the government or something? And how would he have you, by like raping you or something. This still doesn't explain why that insanely gorgeous guy in the grocery store was still like 18." She was clearly annoyed that I wasn't just telling her what was going on.

"He wanted my blood and he is actually like 110." So much for being careful.

"Ha ok so you mean like some sort of vampire? Like Dracula, he wanted to suck your blood?" Here comes the sarcasm, "How did he come out if the day time?"

'Myth' I heard Edward say as my mind whirled back to that night coming back from Port Angeles. I had asked the same question.

"He sparkles in the sunlight." I said. Though she probably though I was making it all up.

"Ok. Well how about this one?" She was laughing, a mean sarcastic laugh. It was the exact reason I didn't want to tell her, I knew that this would happen. "Did he sleep in a coffin? I bet that was fun, sleeping over at his house and having to squeeze _two_ people into his snug little coffin." She rolled her eyes. "You can't seriously expect me to believe a load of crap like that."

'Myth' I heard Edward say again. "He can't sleep." I said. If I had answers to all of her questions, maybe she would start to see.

"You don't know him. I would think I was just at insane as you think I am if I hadn't seen what he can do. You saw how amazing looking he is. His entire family is like that. Their good looks lure prey. They have amazing grace and speed." If I closed my eyes, I remembered the first time I had ever seen them. They were just throwing out their uneaten lunches but I was awestruck by their grace.

"Oh. So now they're like superman. Can they see through walls?" I was getting tired of her snide remarks. Why didn't she just listen and let me say my piece?

"Shut up and let me talk for like five minutes ok?" She nodded casually. "If it weren't for Edward I would be alive. He saved me from _death_ multiple times because of what he could do. When Tyler Crowley's truck was spinning at me, I saw everything around me. Including Edward standing amongst the crowd, too far away to run and help me. They were all just going to watch me die. The next second, someone hit me and pushed me out of to way of Tyler's truck. When it was about to run over my leg, Edward braced himself against the side of it and _stopped_ the truck completely."

Her smug face faltered. She was studying me again but this time, she didn't find a lie and I saw it. "That actually happened?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Honest to god. And remember Renee telling you about when I ran away from Forks and came to Phoenix, only to find that she wasn't here?" She nodded. And I told her the story about James, leaving Alice and Jasper at the airport and the falling-through-a-window cover-up, which Renee and Charlie never doubted for a second because of my clumsiness.

"I couldn't make that up if I tried. Here, where he bit me, he left a scar. Feel." I held out my hand and pointed and the cold spot on my hand where the venom had threatened to take over my body, engulf me in something that I was not ready to take on. But Edward, again, saved me.

"Fuck that's weird." She said pulling her hand away from mine. She looked pained, like she was deciding between trusting me or committing me. "So if this whole this is true. Which I'm not saying it is. Weren't you scared to be around Edward and his family? I mean, if this were true, they would be a group of blood thirsty vampires."

"I would have been if they were like the rest. They were different because they abstained from drinking human blood. They trained themselves to ignore the urges that came with inhaling the scent of sweet human blood. They settled on animal blood. There are plenty of deer in the area and hunted an occasional grizzly or mountain lion." I smiled to myself, hearing Edward's voice telling me about where and what they hunted. "It's what makes their eyes so beautiful."

We didn't speak anymore. It wasn't an angry silence, just contemplative. I let her digest the news. Her face changed occasionally and it was extremely comical and I began to play a game in my head. I started her inner monologue and every time she changed her face angry I would have to make the last thing I said angry and continue with that emotion until her face changed emotion again.

I felt the car begin to slow, I had almost forgotten we were in the car I was so concentrated on my game. When I looked out of the window of my ancient truck I noticed that we were at the beach. Claire didn't move to get out so, neither did I. We both enjoyed just watching the gentle tide.

Unlike California, the Olympic Peninsula didn't have a rip tide. There were no giant waves and the water was always cold. Today, there was not a boat in sight, not necessarily an odd occurrence seeing as the beach was deserted and there was no boat launch.

It was perfectly calm and though the sun was shining, the water was an icy black and the mirror that it created of the trees that pushed right up to the edge of the waterline was eerie. In the reflection, they looked like they were all lined up on the ocean floor, an ancient burial ground for the 200 plus year old trees that could no longer sustain living on the surface of the earth.

I don't know how long we sat there but suddenly the peculiar image of the trees was disrupted by a wind that pulled the water on the surface into tiny wrinkles that splashed against the fist sized pebbles on the beach. And the long, peaceful moment was gone. I leaned over to ask Claire if she wanted to go and she was asleep with her cheek on the steering wheel. I shook her awake and on her right cheek was and impression of the words on wheel.

"Mom" She whispered, exhausted, "Want to drive?"

"Sure. Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Nope. I just sort of drove. Sorry." She gave a fake-apologetic smile and I laughed.

"It's ok. If you didn't take any odd turns, then we can follow the highway back. That's the beauty of this place, the roads are only 2 lanes when they twist through the forests." I smiled at her hoping that she would understand that everything, not just that she had driven too far, would be ok.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

My theory was right and we soon found ourselves back in the heart of Forks. When I saw the grocery store, I had the urge to park my truck and run in to find Edward but I knew he wouldn't be there so I drove past the store and on to Charlie's house.

Claire and I finished dinner and everything on TV sucked so we decided to play hot/cold. One of us would hide an object anywhere in the house and the other would have to find it with only the hot/cold hints from the hider. Mine and Claire's games got pretty intense. One time she hid the object, an army man, in the soap holder in the washer machine.

It was Claire's turn to hide and we had ended up in my bedroom. To get a clue, I would have to clap my hands and wait for her to respond or else the game became too vocal. I had gotten to a point where if I stepped any direction away from a point in my room, she would say cold. It was far away from my dresser, closet, bed and nightstand.

Claire loved to confuse me and when she saw my defeated expression, she began to laugh. Our only other rule was no telling and no giving up. Well that and no toilet bowls, toilet tanks or flushing the object down the toilet. I was getting frustrated because we had used one of my favorite rings, so I put my right hand in my back pocket and shifted my weight.

"Ha!" I yelled at her when I heard one of the boards under my feet creak. "Its in the floor boards isn't it. O I am _so_ good!" I continued to cheer as I got down on the floor and lifted the board up.

I did not find a tiny pink ring, instead I found a CD, two plane tickets to Jackson and the pictures of Edward. "Wrong board." I heard Claire say, "It's the one that's kind of sticking up at the end. Is there something in there let me see." She leaned over me, crouched on the floor, to get a better look.

"Holy shit, it's the hot guy from the grocery store and…is that you?! You look so much like, well, me."

Did he just put these here? They look settled in the thick layer of dust as if they had been there forever. As if they been there the entire time he was gone, just feet away from me at all times as I laid in bed crying, knowing that he no longer loved me, that there was no proof that he had ever been with me in the first place. Those few things were all the proof I had that he was ever actually alive, that he ever actually loved me.

"That's me and Edward, Claire." It didn't hurt to say, it didn't hurt to feel. Maybe, I thought, it is because he came back for me. Maybe he left these things here _so _long ago so that someday I would find them and know he still loves me. But his face when he told me he was leaving was so sincere; it is hard to believe there was ever anything to being with.

I walked over to my tiny CD player and popped the CD in. They were both so _old _but so familiar. I heard my lullaby come on, more proof that he really did care for me.

"Do you want to meet him?" I asked her.

"Who is this? I've never heard it before, it's beautiful. And yeah. If he is willing to meet _me_. I wouldn't miss it."

"He made it for me for my birthday. Lets find him." I needed to know.

**A/N: Ok wow sorry the ending REALLY sucks it's not meant to be a cliffy but it seems like I'm trying 2 make it into 1 eugh. I'm sorry 2 everyone I really am! You are all gonna hate me like no other right now but next chapter is where they are reunited with Edward. Reunited meaning stay with him for more than a couple of seconds as in actually talk to him and be with him so don't hate me please?!?!?!? I didn't realize that this part was gonna take so long because this chapter and next chapter were gonna be one but then it would be **_**really**_** long and I'm sorry **_**again**_**. Please don't hate me, **_**again**_**. And review! 333 Bitten**


	7. The Janitor's Closet

**A/N: You guys are gonna LOVEEEEE me. Yes, yes he has finally arrived. He will be in this chapter, the next chapter, the next chapter and then next and the next and the next. Edward is parking his car in this garage for a long time. Hahahaha, jk. But seriously he's gonna b a huge part in the story. Hope you enjoy it. I would also like you to know that I have 2 pack 8:00 in the morning tomorrow and it is 2:00 but I promised I would have Edward and I do. But i didnt want 2 post at 2 in the morning. Enjoy!**

The Janitor's Closet

**Bella's POV**

We went to bed and I didn't sleep well in anticipation for the following day. As early as was acceptable, I got out of bed and put a pair of jeans and a white sweater on. I was amazed at how much I had stayed the same since high school, figure-wise. I am not fat or even chubby in the slightest, sometimes if Claire buys a pair of pants a size too big, or a tank top that should have shrunk in the wash but didn't, I steal them until she grows and wear them out when she doesn't come with me. Then, they magically appear again in her drawers.

After breakfast, Claire and I were getting ready in my/our bedroom for the coming day.

"Ok first, if you're going to find him," She used stupid air quotes when she said 'find him' to make fun of my enthusiasm, "you are going to need some pretty new clothes."

"But-"

"Ah, ah" she cut me off, "You need to look pretty and besides, don't you want to go shopping?!"

"You should meet Alice." I mumbled under my breath. I wondered if Edward was here alone or, were all of the Cullens with him? How could he go around outside without people recognizing him? If they did, that did he tell them?

"What was that?" She asked, distracted by her recent plan and was pushing around my room looking for her purse in which was her wallet, phone, various pens and, of course, lip gloss.

"Oh, nothing want to go?" The sooner this is over, the sooner I get my answers.

"Uh, sure. Ok. Lets roll." She said, struggling to get her tiny purse from the pile of crap that _she_ had created in the past 10 minutes while looking for said purse.

&&&

After shopping together for about an hour and a half, I was done with the mall but Claire said that she needed to do some "personal shopping" but first she wanted to eat. We went down to the food court and she downed a large water, it's better for your skin, and a fatty hamburger. Her face was scheming, I wonder if she and Alice would be sisters or at least best friends in an alternate universe, maybe they had been in a past life.

**Claire's POV**

Personal shopping my ass, she was going to get something nice for her to "find" Edward in. I wonder if she gained or lost weight since Christmas because those are the only sizes I have. Oh well, I'll manage.

After visiting Banana Republic, The Limited and Express, my bladder was bursting. I entered the bathroom. It looked like it belonged at a five star hotel, not some mall, although the mall was exceptionally done. The counter was chiseled out of orange/red marble and was rough on the edges. The sinks were the color of midnight. They were square shaped with automatic faucets. Next to each one stood a yellow rose. Weird, _yellow_?

The toilet stalls were closed in from floor to ceiling with real, cherry wood doors. Like at a spa. The toilets and toilet seat covers were also automatic. I took note of the stall as I went about my "business". I stood up and the toilet flushed. A plaque on the inside of the door read, 'Bathrooms Courtesy of the Turmadouri Family.' I wondered why they would donate money to build and decorate this extravagant bathroom, it said bathrooms, were there more?

While thinking about the odd quirks of the seemingly beautiful bathroom, I left the stall, washed my hands and dried them. As I was walking from the trashcan to the door, I heard the janitor's closet open and a tall person, maybe 6'1" or 6'2" began to move out. I thought nothing of it until they were just behind me and I felt a hand cover my mouth and another grabbed me firmly around the waist and pulled me into the closet.

Their touch didn't hurt, they weren't rough like they wanted to hurt me but the hand over my face was cold and I could smell, I could only assume it was a him, his breath. It was lovely a sweet, delicious scent. I wasn't even scared. I hadn't been scared when he grabbed me either. What was wrong with me?

And then he spoke, It was a voice that I knew I should have recognized but couldn't place.

"You are being awfully cooperative." He chuckled and let his grip on my shoulder loosen and the cool hand across my eyes drifted away. I wrestled out of the grasp on my shoulder and turned to face him.

It was dark but I could make out the shape of a man and a thin column of light at the floor was obstructed only by the two shadows of his pant legs. He was standing against the door, of course.

"I don't want to hurt you, I could never do that to your mother. Not that I would want to anyhow. I just want to talk but I knew that if I approached you in any other setting, you would immediately turn around and find your mom. And I really do not want to cause a scene by racing after and trying to stop you."

Creeper. "Ok, who are you?" I tried to keep my voice steady, "and what do you want with me and my mom?" My voice wavered at 'mom'. Damn.

He flipped on a switch near the door, which illuminated a lone bulb on the ceiling.

I couldn't help but smile and I almost laughed but I contained it. He was the insanely gorgeous guy from the grocery store. "Edward?…" I tried.

He looked at me and smiled too. God, I should be scared out of my fucking mind, I'm in a janitor's closet, the door is being blocked be an alleged vampire who was stronger than anything I could ever imagine. But he is gorgeous and those eyes, a translucent gold. What had mom called them, turquoise? No that's blue. I know it started with a 'T'. Turpentine? What the hell, no! That's not even a color.

"Topaz?" Edward offered.

"Yes, thank you." I tried to sound un-phased but it was no use if he could freaking read my mind.

"I guess your mother talks about me. Nothing bad, I hope." He smiled but I could see in his eyes that he knew what he had done to her. Or had it been what he had done to himself?

"You kind of ruined her life." We both cringed, I saw her raw pain, the kind that occurred less and less as I grew up, flash through his eyes. What was with those things, they showed everything.

"When did she tell you?" He inquired. He was guarding himself, not out and out asking incase she didn't tell me the truth or the whole truth, it may not be.

"About what?"

His jaw clenched and he smiled tightly and narrowed his eyes. "If I didn't know better, I would mistake you for Bella. Your mannerisms and, looks for that matter, are strikingly similar."

"We call her Iz now. The sound of the name "Bella" was painful for her to hear because every time she heard it, she thought of you." I probably shouldn't have been taunting him, he could very likely dispose of me in seconds if he became mad enough. I couldn't help it, he caused my mother, my best friend, the only person that has been in my life every momentous and not momentous day for the past 18 years, more pain than a person should ever experience.

He closed his eyes and took a huge breath of air. If he is living dead, which I'm not saying he is, but why would he have to breath?

I watched him open his eyes and roll them. "I don't have to if I don't want to." As he said that, he jerked around and glared back at the door, flipped off the light, grabbed me and shoved us both in the back corner of the tiny closet. He leaned close to me, I could feel his breath down my neck and he whispered, "Don't do anything rash."

The door to the closet opened just after he said 'rash', he leaned an inch away from my face and immediately backed away pretending to be extremely embarrassed.

"Oh my god. Shit. Wow, this really wasn't the best spot darling. We should um get somewhere a bit more secluded." He even _giggled_. The cleaning lady just rolled her eyes at us as he lead me, dumbfounded, by the hand out into the crowded mall.

He let go immediately and put a bit of distance between us. "That was purely for show. If we were standing apart, arguing, she would have been suspicious."

"I'm not an attention starved baby. I know what happened. And suspicious of what?" I snapped. Taking a _necessary_ deep breath, I asked calmly, "Do you want to see mom?"

He looked at me as we walked, avoiding every person, plant, or wall that came in front of him. "Not if I _only_ get to see her. I would like to speak to her." He ignored my previous question.

"If she lets you I don't care what you do to her."

He smiled. "Where is she?"

"I'm guessing the food court where I left her she's-"

"Not much of a shopper," He interrupted and finished my sentence, not talking to me, but to himself.

I made to take an escalator down to another long walkway of shops and occasional restaurants until I came to another elevator but Edward said, "This way." Motioning with his head to a door just inside of a large glass door that lead to the parking lot. He moved swiftly to the door opening it and allowing me to go first. It was a long stairwell that went both up and down. How did he even know about this, were we even allowed down here.

"My sister loves the mall but hates the crowds, she is very impatient. Of course we aren't allowed down here, it's a perfect place for teenage sex and adult murder. Personnel only." He moved in front of me, his beautiful, untidy, copper hair swished every time he turned a corner. His grace was staggering and I had to catch myself a couple of times when I forgot what I was doing and stumbled down a couple of steps. He truly was beautiful.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that you're thinking about me like that but your mother is the love of my life?" He questioned.

"Everyone says I'm so much like her so, it's no surprise to me that we think the same." I countered.

"Oh but you don't. You two are completely distinct people with completely different minds. I'd know." He won.

God it seemed like the staircase would go on for ever but finally, he pushed open a door and it lead us straight into the hustle and bustle of people carrying trays to and from restaurants in the food court. Magic, I thought, joking with myself.

"No such thing", he said loud enough to be heard over the noise of little children and sizzling grilles at various restaurants.

"There's no such thing as vampires either." I muttered to myself. I saw him stop and roll his neck over his shoulders. Did he seriously hear me?

"Where did you leave your mom?" He asked, I could see his thumb tapping rapidly on the side of his leg.

"By the Taco Del Mar."

"Gross. Mexican food in Washington?"

"She misses Arizona. I'll get her and tell her you're here. Stay there please and if you leave again. I will find out how to kill you and hire someone to do it." I smiled and turned on my heel. My long ponytail swished behind me. Dramatic I thought to myself sarcastically.

**Bella's POV**

I was playing guess the shoe size game when I guessed woman, 7½ and looked up to see Claire. Damn. 8½. She didn't have any bags. It was too early for her to back.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"I cant come to spend some time with my delightful mother?" She asked, a sickly sweet smile on her face.

"Ok. First, who says delightful and second, no, not when you have the shopping option."

"So the thing is," she abandoned the sweet look, "I was shopping and I really had to pee because of the insane amount of water that I drank." She began talking faster and faster. "So, naturally, I went to the bathroom which by the way are nice looking but extremely oddly decorated at the same time. So I'm done and thinking about why anyone would donate money to build a bathroom and a person comes out of the janitor's closet and puts their hand over my mouth and pulls me inside. Here's the kicker, I wasn't even scared."

"So a strange person pulls you into the janitor's closet. Man or a woman?" I couldn't even worry. She seemed energetic and upbeat, not at all frightened.

"Well I guess you could say a man. But the _real _kicker is, he wasn't a total stranger, guess who it was." The kicker, what's a kicker?

"What do you mean 'I guess you could say a man?' Did he look like a woman? I have no idea what person we both know who would abduct you into a bathroom janitor's closet." This is strange, why doesn't she just tell me. Maybe I'll get her like this "So, what happened in the janitor's closet?"

"We talked." She said simply

Frustrated, I asked "About what?"

"You." She piped.

"Claire Alice Swan, You will tell me who the hell pulled you into that stupid closet and what you talked about and why you're being so cryptic!" I said, well maybe yelled, a little bit lauder than I should have. A few heads turned so, we both smiled.

"You're going to be angry with me." She chanted.

"Tell me." I squinted at her, I don't even know why it mattered to me. I think it was an excitement in her eyes, she knew it was important.

"Why Alice?" A deep, smiling voice asked in my ear behind me. I turned and braced myself but there was no one there. Was I hearing things? But I turned back to the table and he was sitting there. His long, pale fingers, folded on the table. He looked more like he should be on a date with Claire, not my one and only true love. But he didn't love me any more.

My words couldn't solidify, all I managed was to close my mouth. He was breath taking, as he had been yesterday. Wow, had it really only been a day since then? He had fed recently, his eyes were a light gold. They were clouded though, by anger, sadness. Some of both?

"Ah…ap…uh…why?" I gaped. Barely forming the one tiny word.

**A/N: YAY! EDWARD!!!! I was really nervous to write him because I haven't before now so I want feedback (on everything) . And next chapter is Edward and Bella talking things through. So yeah it is Edward and Bella, together, FINALLY! I'm all too excited. I am off to sea world today, and I will be gone until Saturday so, I hope you love the new chapter and more, I promise, when I get back! Review plz!?**


	8. Truth

**A/N: Okay so this is the amazing author's friend, and I say that this chapter kicks ass and the author is pretty cool and you all should like her because she updates fairly often ha ha lol. Anyways I was with her while she wrote this and I am a pretty energetic person so if it's not as FREAKIN AMAZING as the other ones, hunt me down. Lol jk, okay well yeah. Harts 333 Rach!! **

Truth

**Bella's POV**

"_...why?"_

I didn't, I couldn't, look away from his beautiful face when I saw his pain. The look of pain that had cursed me long ago, the one of pure torture. The torture of knowing that you no longer have the only person you've ever loved, the torture of tremendous loss.

He didn't lose anything, he left me. He didn't love me anymore and that is why he left so, why was he in pain? He didn't have the _right_ to be in pain after what he did.

"Bella…" He breathed, the one word held so much emotion. Pain. Sadness. Anger, anger at me? At himself? Desperation. Love?

This is the exact reason why I changed my name to Iz. The way he said it, it would seem ordinary to others, it is after all just a name, but it brought back the feelings I had when he loved me so long ago. I knew that the more I thought about him, the more I thought about this meeting and the way he said my name, the more the hole in me was being ripped open again because what he had done was so sudden, so clear that I couldn't doubt him. He didn't love me. But his voice suggested otherwise.

He unfolded his long fingers and set both of his forearms on the table, placing his right hand over his left. His fingers bent slightly, the tips resting lightly on the table. He leaned forward resting most of his weight on his elbows.

"I lied." He cringed, eyes narrowing, his lips pressed together.

"You haven't said anything that could be a lie." I could barely speak because my lungs constricted and my heart began to pound at the sound of his voice.

"When I…When I left-"

"WHEN YOU _LEFT_?" I cut him off, " You didn't just leave. It isn't that simple! You didn't love me, you tore a hole straight through me, my friendships, my family, my _life_! "_You left_" is the understatement of the blossoming century, oh please." I closed my eyes and saw his face 20 years ago in the forest, not 30 feet away from the safety of Charlie's house. It was devoid of all emotion, as if he were a stranger I had just met who had no particular interest in me or anything concerning me.

I felt a hand on my back and I was about to jerk away when I saw that it was Claire. It was then that I realized that I was sobbing. Poor Claire, I forgot that she was even sitting there.

"Oh. Claire, honey, you can go." I wiped my eyes.

"No mom. Really, I can stay." She was reluctant though and I could see that she was uncomfortable.

"You can go. We're, um, grown ups." I glanced at Edward, in terms of appearance, forever in his teens but even when I was Claire's age he had the maturity of an adult.

"Mom, I'm like older than him." She shifted her eyes to the other side of the table and glanced over him. She began to smile and quickly turned her eyes back to me. I snorted but instead of laughter came tears. The heel of my hand automatically flew up and pushed them away. "I'm going to go. Be good." She smiled back at Edward again and hurried off.

"She is so much like you." His voice was quiet and he stared down at the table.

"Everyone that meets her says so." This was so frustrating. Were we really going to compare and contrast my daughter and I? No. I decided, we had both already done that silently, no need to repeat it vocally. "Edward, why are you here?" It was a very blunt question, I wish I could be as eloquent as he is.

He looked away from the table his eyes catching mine before I could turn away, their brilliance making me light headed. "I came to find you, Bella."

"Iz." I corrected him automatically although he would probably ignore me anyway. The name, Iz, would be so foreign coming from his beautiful lips. "And why would you come back if," I took a huge breath, "If you didn't care about me." I kept myself from blinking to dry the tears that were coming too fast.

"I wanted to see you." I searched for the lie in his eyes but they were so sincere, his emotion so genuine but how could I believe him when they were so true when he left me too. "I _do_ care about you. How could you believe that…" He was still speaking but I couldn't hear him.

Was he lying? Why would come all of the way back here to lie? Was he telling the truth? If he was telling the truth now, why did he lie so long ago? Or did he change his mind? My head was beginning to pound, my breath was short. The room was spinning, everything turned white and I could feel my eyes straining to come back into focus. They slowly blurred back and my head was heavy on the muscles in the back of my neck. Oh god. Did I pass out?

Edward was at my side, one cold hand against my forehead, the other supporting my head. "No." I gasped. "I'm fine. Please, let me go."

"Bella," His eyes bored into mine. His beauty was almost unbearable and completely paralyzing. I gave in to him and his silent request to help me.

He sat me up and forced my water down my throat. "You did that on purpose." I accused when he was back in the chair across the table.

"It worked didn't it?" He grinned, it was the crooked smile that had played across his face countless times in my past but was also the first actual smile of his that I had seen in nearly 20 years. I could feel my pulse quicken in my clenched fingers, curled toes and already pounding head.

"I guess it did." Was all I could think of to say.

"I need to tell you something but I have a feeling that you'll be slightly upset so, I would rather we got back to the house or even my car if you like." His voice was one that someone might use when talking to a small child.

"Why would you tell me that something will upset me and then expect me to follow you?"

"Because you know me. You know that if you ask a question I will respond and I believe you asked me a question." He explained as his long fingers flew over the table gathering mine and Claire's various cups, plates and bowls.

"I'll call Claire and tell her to take her time shopping." I gave in and reached back to grab my phone out of the abyss. Also known as my purse. She picked up and the third or fourth ring and we had a trivial mock argument in which she accused me of various things relating to Edward and his car.

"She seems…interesting." He smirked.

"We may look alike but she is so much more out-there and free spirited than I was. She _is_ interesting and adventurous where I am predictable and observant." I wondered if I had been like Claire would I have even met Edward? If I had been talking instead of watching, would I have even noticed him?

When he opened the door to a charcoal colored Mercedes, I was slightly confused. That surprised me, even after 20 years, I pictured _everything_ not just Edward the same. The Volvo was far too old and well, slow I suppose.

I began to lower myself into the car when I realized how bizarre this situation was. Why was I even doing this? I could walk away, go find Claire and we would carry out the rest of our planned activities and numerous trips to all corners of Washington. I stopped and moved away from the tight leather seats and smooth metal handle of the door. I would walk into the mall and wait for Claire, from there we would continue what we had been doing before Edward appeared.

But what if he was going to answer my question? Maybe he was going to tell me what happened, what went wrong. That is after all, why I wanted to see him again. I needed to know why he had left and why he was back. Before I had any more time to think, I felt pressure on my wrist. I whipped around to see Edward eyeing me curiously.

"I thought that my patience with your unusual mind would be stronger after having been away. But that makes no sense now that you are here. Now that after so long, I have not come across a single person in this world like you, it is almost _more_ frustrating." He sighed, "That is another way that, Claire, was it? Is so different from you. I can hear her."

"I'm going to…um…inside…to find…" I lost my train of thought because he started to laugh at me.

"Come Bella. It wont take long and you 'can um…inside' in a minute." The sunlight glinted in his smiling, translucent eyes.

I gave in, again, and plopped in the car with an exaggerated huff.

"I am going to begin as I attempted in the mall. We both know how that went so, if you wish, you can repeat what you said before but remember I am trying to answer your question." He shut his eyes lightly and opened them again. "Quickly." He added.

"Are we going to drive anywhere?" I asked taking in the stationary position of his car in the overcrowded mall parking lot.

"I suppose" He sighed and silently shifted the car into reverse to back out of the tiny space.

"Proceed." I waved a sarcastic hand.

He took a deep, unnecessary breath and began. "When I left," He paused waiting for an outburst. I bit the inside of my cheek. _Not. That. Simple._ I felt like screaming. He nodded, pleased with my restraint and kept going. "You most likely remember the events almost immediately preceding our departure. With, ehm, Jasper," His eyes flicked rapidly from side to side growing darker with every movement. They stopped and lost focus.

"My entire family was at odds. I was _furious_ with Jasper. We could hardly be in the same house, let alone the same floor or room together. And Alice took Jasper's side, saying that it took all of the restraint that _she_ had and then some not to jump you." I flinched at how frank the statement was. "She said that it was purely instinctual, that any vampire still struggling to control his self in public wouldn't be able to resist." His voice was rising, there was no mistake that remembering it flooded him with unwanted memories and feeling like remembering him had done with me.

"I don't blame Jasper." I said quietly. It would be no consolation though, Edward was in his own place and could not be brought back by anyone but himself.

"You shouldn't," His voice was a gravely whisper. "After the incident, I realized how much of a threat he was, we were to you. I thought maybe if I began to distance myself before we left, it might be easier for you, that you wouldn't think that one day I loved you and the next, I did not." He looked as if he couldn't bear to think about what he was saying. He was blocking the words that his own mouth was forming.

"You planned. on. not. loving me?" I felt as if I would vomit after each word and had to pause to swallow the anguish, making my words staccato and forced.

"No! Absolutely not!" His face was once again grief stricken. He shifted his legs, one foot remained on the gas while the other was brought up to rest at the base of his chair so that he could drive with his knee. I became a bit frightened, wondering why he would need both of his hands. My mental worries were answered when I glanced over to see him raking his long, pale fingers through his hair. Harmless. "I could never _not_ love you." He never took his eyes from mine.

How long had we been sitting there, staring? Seconds? Minutes? I wanted to blink, I needed to blink but I couldn't break the contact. Not now, not this moment, not when everything I knew, everything that I had based my entire life after him on was crumbled in his titanium fist.

I couldn't breathe. My lungs along with my head and beliefs, the way I though of the world, Claire's depressing childhood and the years that had followed his departure were being crushed by the weight of his words.

"Is this some sort of sick joke?" I began to dry heave. What if it wasn't? What if he still loved me, and god and everyone else knows, no matter how much I deny it, I am still undeniably in love with him too?

"_A joke? You think my love for you is a joke?_" He was clearly offended but I needed to ask. And he said it. His love. For me. Does that mean he loves me? He didn't say if or if not he was joking. I heaved again, that time I felt something in my throat but, with effort, swallowed it.

"Pull…over." I was taking huge breaths hoping that they would post pone my being sick. I looked out the window and noticed that the car was already parked on the side of a desolate highway lined until the horizon with trees._ Bless you Edward_. I though as I hurled myself out of the luxurious car. I ran to the edge of the forest and got down on my hands and knees, waiting.

Within seconds, Edward was over me. He put one hand on the back of my neck and another on my forehead, attempting to calm me. Twice in one day, I thought as I looked back on being at the mall just an hour before, fainting when he said he cared for me. Could so much happen in an hour? Could a life's meaning, or lack there of, turn to dust and be blown away by a few words?

I heaved once more and this time I didn't even attempt to stop the disgusting bile from reversing it's order and spilling out my mouth. Edward had grabbed my hair and we stayed on the side of the road until I was finished.

"I know you have so much to say to me. And you may even want to cause me pain and I will let you talk and I will let you hurt because I know that what I have done is horrible. I lied to you, the woman I love, hoping that I would protect you, keep you from the monsters that we really are." I winced, I had never seen any of them act like monsters, with the exception of Jasper, so how could I be expected to think of them in that way?

"The monsters that you refuse to see in us." He added knowingly, "I did not protect you, I didn't give you the normal, human life that I wanted you to have. I only took the most important thing we both had, our love. It held you up and I felt alive again but without it, we both lived a hollow life, a life in the darkest hour of night. But I have you now, you are here and I will not make the same mistake twice. I walked this earth for 20 years for the sole purpose of one day going back to you and here you and I are, together."

When he first began to speak, he was loud, passionate but he grew closer and closer to my ear and for each inch he closed between us, his voice grew softer until his cold lips touched my ear and his voice was only air. "I love you Bella Swan and I intend to keep it that way."

**A/N: WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!! Im finished. Holy crap you have no idea how long that took me to write! I had some hugemungous writer's block in Cali so it took a while (O and the part about the "abyss" aka her purse, **_**ALL**_** rachel's words but she graciously lent them 2 me) Ok SOOOOOOO that was a slightly important chapter so if u didn't read it fully, go back and read it again byotch. Jk. I love u guys but really it took me SO long to write and I had to think really hard but then it came to me, the words were like jets coming out of my fingers, kind of like this author's note. O and I was super excited to post so I only edited like a quarter and like didn't even read the rest after I wrote it so sorry if it's rushed. I'm not sure if it is or not…So, I hope you liked the chapter, sorry 4 the crazy long author's note and thanks SO much for reading and reviewing so far! LOVE YOU GUYS!!! Review plz? Luvz Bitten…**


	9. Alternate Ch 7 Just for Fun

**A/N: Okay so this is Rach, the author's super cool friend and I gave her an idea to start her real chapter then she told me I could write whatever I wanted and I took her very literally. Ha ha anyways, just to let you know I am not like insanely weird, or messed up or anything, I am actually the opposite, lol. But, we were chilling at sea world and we were like really hyper for some strange reason and I couldn't stop rambling, lol just like now. Okay, so here is my chapter of chapter 7 and by the way, I will probably be making an amazing, not messed up fanfiction in the near future so yeah. Lol.**

Messed Up

**Bella's POV**

"Edward…" I said, that's all I could manage to say.

He looked into my eyes, the way he used to and said, "Bella…"

This is the exact reason why I changed my name to Iz. The way he said it, it would seem ordinary to me but it brought back the feeling I had when he left me so long ago. I knew the more I thought about him, the more I thought about this meeting and the way he said my name, the bigger the hole became in me.

"Bella, we need to talk," he said. I knew this was coming, I knew it was inevitable since I saw him but this didn't make me any less nervous.

"Okay," I said.

"I'll leave you two alone," Claire said quietly.

"Bella, you are still just as much of a sexy bitch as when you were 17!"

"Thanks so much you're still a sexy beast, well beast could have double meanings! Ha ha." I know how stupid it sounded but I couldn't help it.

"Uh thanks. I wish we weren't in this grocery store so I could have you right now!"

"We're in a Mall. and what about the Bella Safety Rules?" This is after all the reason I had to get it on with Mike Newton.

"To hell with them. You look just so damn sexy I can't help myself. "I wanna take you home and UH DOUBLE UP UH UH!" I've gotten in the Sir-Mix-A lot lately."

"Oh well that turns me on, is there a bathroom or someplace like that in here?!"

"Let me use my super vampire smelling to find the bathrooms, they have a very distinctive scent by the way."

"Good to know," I said impatiently.

"Lets go! I found it!"

He pulled me into the bathroom.

We started making out when the door opened.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath. "Always so close, yet so far."

I couldn't help but think the same thing.

We both turned around to see who our surprise visitor was and OMG it was Claire. I expected her to be disgusted to find me in this sate but instead she let out a holler, OW OW!!! MOM AND EDWARD GETTING IT OOOOOONNNNN!"

"No we are not and don't talk like that young lady!" I was embarrassed for myself, my own daughter talking like this to my sexy dream man. I could tell Edward was reading her thoughts because he was making some weird face, but none of them killed his sexiness.

"Young lady, I know I am an arousing vampire, but don't be jealous that your mother is getting some action and you aren't now if you please would excuse us…. We have some business to take care of…"

**A/N: Ok. This is Bitten again. We were, of course, insanely hyper and my friend started to write this and I let her go wild and I know it's kind of creepy but it was crazy fun to write not because of content but because of how freaking hard we laughed. I had no part in the writing which I regret but she would read me segments such as UH. Double up, uh, uh. And OW! OW!!! MOM AND EDWARD GETTING IT OOOOOONNNNN! We laughed a lot and I decided to share it with u guys. Enjoy! And sorry this was posted after chappie 8 but its still funny… least to us. Lol. Chappie 9 is up too! Yay! **


	10. You'll See

**A/N: HaWOW! This is a pretty long chapter, you have um, well, me to thank for that and my **_**extremely**_** uneventful summer. It is actually going to become very eventful for the next like month but I will definitely update, promise. Um, about Bella asking so many questions in her head. That isn't specific to this story, I just figure that that's how people think and process, or at least how I do so, sorry if it bugs anyone its just how I write. Enjoy Chapter 9! I both laughed out loud and (almost) cried while writing it. (I don't cry like ever in books, or stories, or movies either really. Except for Pirates 3. I cried like a freaking baby.) Enjoy!!**

You'll See

**Bella's POV**

_I love you Bella Swan…_It echoed through my head, bouncing into each section of my mind so that every part of me felt something. My previously pounding head cleared, pulse slowed, my breathing stopped.

"Bella!" He shook me, "keep breathing. Deep breath. Take a breath, please, Bella." His hands were almost painfully grasping my shoulders._ Ouch,_ I thought and took a rattley breath. "That's right In…out…in…out." His relieved, smooth voice coaxed me back to sitting up right.

I swallowed a couple of times and leaned back on my hands, relieving the pain on my slouched back. "Why didn't you come earlier??" I croaked, my throat was dry from taking the huge breaths.

"Earlier?"

"You could have come back before graduation, during the summer before college, while I was in college. But you waited 18 years and now look at us." I gestured between his smooth, toned body and youthful face and my slightly older, more worn appearance. Not that I looked like an old lady but I did not look his age at all.

"I told you that no matter what, I would love you. I do. I never stopped and I know it sounds strange coming from me, now. But I want to be with you Bella, I need to be with you because you are my life."

"Answer my question." I demanded.

"I wanted you to experience a life without the constant danger of us being with you. And even if we were all like Carlisle and as strong as he is, there would still be others who came after you, others not like us. I didn't want you to constantly be worrying about danger and instead enjoy being human." His face was full of grief. "I wanted to give you time to adjust even though it killed me. I tried to pass the time but every second of every day, I thought of you."

**A/N: Ok I cant figure out a way 2 break up this paragraph so im just gonna start a new paragraph and sorry ther kinda long but it's still Edward talking on the same topic and all that good stuff. Luvs, bitten.**

"After a year, I couldn't take it. I knew that there was a possibility that you had moved on and decided that if I went back to Forks and you weren't there, then I would know. I thought that if you stayed in Forks, it meant you were waiting for me. I went to Charlie's and he was most likely at work but I knew that you were gone. Your scent was barely there, as if you had been gone for months. I left it at that, I had told myself that if you still needed me, you would be there and you weren't. I didn't stay long enough to see anyone or even find out where you were because I knew that if I knew your location, I would be compelled to find you so, I went home and all I did was run and feed." His eyes looked like they belonged in a corpse. They were blank and hollow, with no focus or emotion.

_That was the hardest year of my life_. I wanted to say but bit my tongue because I didn't know if it would make him angry. "Why did you come back now, then?" I decided it was a safer question.

His eyes awakened with a spark. "I'll show you." He leapt up gracefully to his feet.

I had been sitting with my legs out in front of me propped up on my hands. I folded my legs to my chest and attempted to push myself up with my hands. I succeeded but a rush of blood to my head caused my balance to shift and I began to fall. Edward's cold hands caught me. One on the small of the back and one at the base of my neck. If someone drove by and saw us at that very second, they would probably think we were doing some sort of dance. "Thanks." I breathed.

He pressed his lips together and stifled a laugh. "Nothing has changed."

He led me to the car and practically placed me in my seat. "Ok, so I am going to 'see' why you cam back to Forks shortly. So I will wait for that but will you tell me why you were at a grocery store?" I had been so shocked to actually see him that I hadn't actually registered that he was in a grocery store.

I wonder if they make vampire grocery stores. What would they carry? Frozen blood? I wonder if vampires freeze blood for later or if it's only good coming straight from a carcass. Gross.

"You'll see." He smiled that perfect, one of a kind, Edward smile.

"Not fair." I huffed and folded my arms across my chest. Oh crap. Claire. How long had it been? An Hour? Two Hours? She would probably be wondering where I was. But wouldn't she have called?

"How long is it going to take?" I asked.

He thought a moment. He perfect face interrupted by a deep crease in his brow. "Depends on how interested you are."

"If I am interested, how long will it take?"

The same contemplative look came over his face. "A while."

I suddenly remembered back to the car ride from Port Angeles. _How old are you? _I asked. _Seventeen_. He responded confidently. _How long have you been seventeen?_ I inquired. His face twisted and he finally replied. _A while._

"A while as in 90 years?" I joked.

"If you want." He said, off handedly.

I started at him dumbly. 90 years, that's a long time. Most people don't live 90 years, and I most certainly cannot live until I'm-. Oh…OH! Oh my god. Is he serious? Was that a joke? Do I want to be changed? He has been back for like 2 days. But I've lived without him for 18 years. Eternity is a long time. Claire…would he change Claire too? Who do I want to be with more?

He probably noticed my confused, worried expression because he immediately grew concerned. "Bella. Relax. It was a joke." He smiled but his eyes were hurt that I was so worried.

Was he seriously considering it? If he's considering it, I want to be with him. I love him, I've always loved him, even when he left, I wasn't angry, I just couldn't believe I loved someone who didn't love me back. But he does.

_I_, I was about to say when I looked out the window and realized we were at the Cullens'. Crap. I cant just leave Claire at the mall. What if this takes hours? Days?

"Can Claire come?" I gave him an apologetic smile but with his maniac driving, it wouldn't take more than 10 or 15 minutes to get there.

"Does she know?"

"Um. I told her but I'm not sure she believed me." I saw the inquisitive look on his face and added, "Well she saw you in that grocery store, where you shouldn't have been in the first place because you don't need food and then I stupidly blurted out your name. I mean how else do I explain" I waved my arm up and down at his body. "that?"

"Well you could have-"

"Oh get this. I did try to cover it up I told her you were a _vegan_." He let out a huge laugh that I was sure would alert the others that we were here but no one exited the picturesque white house.

"That's wonderful and when that failed you told her I was a vampire?" He laughed quieter that time but it still shook his tall frame.

"Yeah. But in any case, she knows. I really don't want to leave her at the mall until 10:00 tonight." _Or for 90 years_. I thought. "What is this thing that you have to show me? Why cant you just tell me?" I saw him cringe and the word _thing. _Well, if it wasn't a thing, what was it?

"You'll see. Claire can come but if Rosalie didn't like you knowing, she is not going to be happy about your _daughter_ knowing either." He looked amused, exactly how a younger brother looks when he taunts an older sister by pulling out her doll's hair or telling the boy she likes exactly _how much_ she likes him. But instead, Edward found a bigger, riskier secret just as amusing. "If she is, in fact, like you, she wont tell anyone, right?" His amused expression was replaced by deep seriousness.

"No. Absolutely not. I threatened her, I'm good at that." No I'm not. What exactly did I tell her? Did I threaten her? I don't think I did. She probably would have laughed at me. But I knew that she would never tell anyone.

He, once again, laughed at me. It was actually pleasant, hearing him laugh again. If I didn't look in a mirror, I felt 18 again. "I'm sure you are." He smirked. And with that, we backed out of the Cullens' drive and headed for the mall.

I searched through my purse to find my phone. They should make a phone pocket in those stupid things. I pressed the 5 button down until I heard it beep. And held the phone to my ear.

She picked up on the second ring, "Have fun?" She didn't even bother saying hello.

"That's not exactly how I would describe it." Emotional. Maybe. Pivotal. Yes. Fun. Not so much.

"Rough?" She offered.

Edward let out an astonished laugh to my left and I glared at him.

"Don't start." I warned.

"Exciting? Different? Exotic?"

"Cl-" I tried to stop her but she pressed on.

"Chaotic? Maniac?" O god I thought here we go. " Crazy? Wild? How about Hot?"

My eyes grew wider with every word. "Stop it." I said quickly.

"Nasty? The good one, not the bad?"

Edward was in hysterics beside me. Every time he tried to calm himself, she kept going and he would bust out laughing again. If he could cry, there would have been tears streaming down his face from how hard he was laughing. Unable to find the humor just yet, I kept myself from screaming and soon felt the hot sensation of blush seeping into my ivory skin.

"Claire. We went for a drive and _talked._" I tried to reason with her now but it was to no avail.

"Oh I see. You did the nasty talk not the nasty walk." Holy. Good. God.

Edward snorted beside me. I slapped his shoulder in a futile attempt to stop his incessant giggling.

"Claire, that makes no sense and we are picking you up and going to see…something." I tried my best to ignore her inappropriate babble.

"Um. I want to know what this something is or I'm not getting in the car. That's kind of creepy. I think I'll just stay here."

"Tell her it's a Mercedes CL-Class." Edward whispered beside me, still smiling hugely unable to completely stop his laughter.

"Hold on a sec." I said into the phone and covered the mouthpiece. "She wont know what a Seal Class is." I hissed back at him.

"Well of course she wont because there's no such thing, Its _CL _class not _Seal._" He snorted again.

I rolled my eyes and returned to the phone. "It's a CL-Class?" It was more of a question than a persuasion.

"Mercedes?"

Edward nodded his head. "Uh yeah." I said.

"Sweet. I'll be right down." The phone clicked and she was gone.

"She's _my_ daughter. How did you know she would like the car?" I demanded.

"Because all teenagers like cars Bella. I'd know."

I couldn't think of anything to say so, I just stuck my tongue out at him. Mature, Bella- crap Iz, I though to myself. I need to figure that out.

"You're in a grumpy mood." He fake-furrowed his brow.

"You're in a good mood." I countered.

"Well, I'm with you. I missed you." His face grew more serious and simultaneously older. It was amazing how quickly he could make me see that he isn't just a boy, that he has experienced trials of life that I could never even fathom.

"I missed you too." My voice broke. All of the humor that had surrounded us before was sucked out of the car and tears sprang to my eyes. He reached across and wiped a single stray drop from my cheek. His thumb traced my cheekbone to a strand of hair that had escaped from behind my ear and tucked it back. From there, his fingers trailed down my jaw, one by one dropping away.

**A/N:OK about that last part. I don't know if I thought of it in my brain or read it somewhere and just stored it and think its from my brain. So if its from someone's story or Twilight/New Moon sorry, sometimes I don't know what I thought of or if I read it somewhere and forget I read it and think it's mine ; )**

A sharp wrap on my window snapped us back. It was only 5:00 but it seemed like midnight. It felt like I should have been in bed 4 hours ago because of how draining the day's events had been. I blinked adjusting to the outside light. It was dulled by the huge spread of clouds covering the sky but was still brighter than Edward's dimly lit _CL-Class. _

Edward tapped a button on his door and the locks flew up. I pushed the door open and stepped onto the uneven blacktop. Claire bent the seatback forward and pulled the base toward the dash so that she could crawl into the backseat.

"What's this? A 500?" She sounded very knowledgeable, I was impressed at least.

"550." Edward looked insulted that she would think it was less.

"How do you get it to be so shiny?" I then realized that she had not developed any new knew knowledge of cars since she was 10 years old and we had wandered through parking lots at fancy restaurants and boutiques in old town and looked at the "pretty" cars. We knew nothing about the guts or anything inside. The extent of our knowledge was that the higher the number the cooler the car.

Edward courteously answered her few questions because we were soon at the Cullens'.

"You drive really fast." Claire moaned, her face almost as pale as Edward's. "Where are we?"

"This is Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's house. They live here with Edward, Alice and Emmett Cullen and Jasper and Rosalie Hale." I explained. "Or at least they used to." I said more to Edward than Claire. Are they all here?

"And they're all like your, uh, friend here?" She said in a tiny whisper and used her eyes to point at Edward on the other side of the car.

"There is no point in whispering in the Cullen household." I said, "They can all here you anyway."

Edward was at my door before I even realized he was out of the car. He gently pulled the door open and as he grabbed my had to help me out, he said, "Yes. We are a family. We do not share chromosomes or DNA or blood." He and I both snickered but Claire was horrified. "It's ok. We're a family because of who we are. And we would never do anything to disrupt or ruin what my father, Carlisle, has built." He said it in his sweetest voice and offered his marble hand to her shaking one. She took it and stumbled out of the car.

"NO WAY!!!! OH MY GOD! JASPER! EMMETT! OH MY GOD! NO WAY! CARLISLE!! ESME!!" I heard Alice's shrieks coming from the house. She wasn't scared. "BELLA!!!!!" Oh.

"She didn't see us coming?" I asked Edward as he, Claire and I stood awkwardly beside his car.

"She trained herself away from seeing you at all because it was too painful for all of us." He said stepping in front of Claire and I. "Stop right there, Alice. They are only human so you are going to need to calm down a minute." He warned his sister in a voice not above a normal conversation level. She was most likely just on the other side of the door.

I was getting anxious too and began to beg him to allow her to come.

Claire stared at him as if he were crazy. "Is she like invisible or something?" Claire whispered. I stifled a laugh.

"Yes they, Bella and her daughter." He explained.

"HER WHAT?!?" I heard her high pitched scream again. "OH MY GOD!! JASPER! EMMETT DID YOU HEAR THAT?"

"Please Alice. There really is no point in shouting." He flinched.

"COME ON!!!" I begged. My hands were dancing on the sides on my leg.

"You guys can come out as long as you are civil." Edward grimaced and closed his eyes.

I took a deep breath and stepped in front of Claire so that She, Edward and I were now in a sort of vertical line.

I heard the huge door slam against the side of the house as it was thrown back by vampire strength. "Move Edward!" Alice said from only 5 feet away.

He refused so, I went around him. There she was. Unchanged, of course, by time. Her uneven spiked hair still jet-black. Her golden eyes were electric with anticipation, The light accented her bright white teeth biting her lower lip. Her tiny sprite-like frame was actually shaking, her delicate little hands balled into excited fists. I took her in within a matter of milliseconds because I heard a scream that many would associate with white light and I was in her arms.

"You know it wasn't my idea to leave right? It was all Edward. He wanted to leave. He wanted you to have a "normal" human life. Which I guess is ok except it's not. But I had to go with Jasper because I love him but I wish you could have gone with Edward because you love him too. And Jasper is _so_ sorry. He feels so awful. He'll tell you. You'll see him. And Edward loves you too, he loves you _so_ much. He has just depressing to even _look_ at without you. OH I MISSED YOU! I love you too Bella. You know that right?" She was speaking so fast and with so much enthusiasm, it was hard to believe that she was the living dead.

"I know Alice…I understand…Jasper's…the love of your life!...and there is nothing else…that you should have done…than to go with him." It was becoming hard to breath she was holding me so tight. "Um…This is…Claire." I tried to free one of my arms but failed.

She set me down carefully and walked up to Claire who recoiled when Alice held out her hand. "It's ok, I don't bite." Alice smiled a wide, open smile, showing off her gleaming pearly whites. Claire shuddered.

"Damn." Alice muttered. "Does she know?" She looked at us.

Edward and I nodded at the same time. Poor Claire's eyes were as wide as grapefruit.

Alice glared at Edward and turned back to Claire. "I owe you a huge apology. I would never have said anything like that had I known you were privy to our little secret. You see, I like using things like that that everyone says but its _really_ funny to me because you know, I actually do bite-" Claire gasped.

"Alice, that's enough." Edward said, jaw tight, nostril's flared. "Claire, this is Alice. She is really excited to meet you. She's the sister that I told you about, the one who loves to shop." He added hoping to help.

Claire gave a tiny smile. "Nice to meet you Alice."

Alice took a breath clearly about to say something. "Alice. Not now. Please." He begged. "Ok. Alice says she's sorry she scared you and hopes you can talk later because she thinks you could be friends." Alice nodded her head as if asking him to add something else. "We're getting to that. Now, lets get inside I'm sure everyone cant wait to see you Bella." He grabbed my hand and I reached back for Claire's. We walked up the drive toward the Cullens' house.

When we stepped in the door I saw four glowing faces, one who couldn't care less and an unfamiliar, nervously smiling one. I closed my eyes, opened them again and she was still there. Everyone jumped up, except for the unfamiliar girl and a reluctant Rosalie who took her time stretching one perfect leg out at a time in preparation to stand up.

Edward never let go of my hand. "Sit down please." He tried to contain the small, but very strong mob. "Sit down." He said more sternly.

"EVERYONE DOWN NOW." Alice growled.

I felt their various arms detach themselves and untangle from each other on my back.

"Thank you." Edward rolled his head back on his shoulders. "I'm sure we will have plenty of time to trample Bella in a minute but right now, we need to introduce some people." He glanced at me and then Claire, my cue to introduce her. I felt slightly embarrassed to be standing in front of a room of people who last saw me when I was 18 years old, introducing _my_ 18 year old daughter when they all look exactly the same.

"Hello everyone. I cant believe how um not much you guys have changed." I said nervously. "This is Claire, my daughter. She just graduated high school in Phoenix." She smiled at the 5 vampires in front of us. The strange girl was very pretty but definitely human, she was far too tan and had vibrant green eyes.

I turned to face Claire, "Claire. Carlisle, Esme and Emmett Cullen." I freed my hand from Edward's grasp and motioned to each of them. Carlisle smiled and nodded his head. Esme couldn't contain her maternal love and jumped up to give Claire a quick hug and Emmett looked as if he were about to laugh but he smiled at her all the same.

"And Jasper and Rosalie Hale." I waved at Jasper and kind of rolled my eyes at Rosalie on the far end of the room. My hand immediately found Edward's again. Jasper and Rose both nodded and Jasper gave Claire a warm smile. I saw her shoulders relax and her eyes lighten. _Thank you Jasper. _I thought even though he couldn't hear me and smiled at him gratefully. He smiled back. There was a lot of smiling going on because we weren't allowed to technically say hello yet.

Still holding my hand, Edward introduced the new girl. "Bella, you may have noticed that we have a new addition to our family, sort of." Edward glanced at the girl. "This is Shane." She rolled her eyes, "But she prefers Shae. She's from Vancouver."

**A/N: YAY! Long chappie, new "Cullen" sort of except she's human. Her story is next chappie. Sorry about the abrupt shift from humor to serious in the middleish but that always seems 2 happen so yeah. And I didn't want 2 make a new guy because I didn't want Claire 2 like fall 4 him cuz that's just too perfect and those poor cullen girls would be drowning in testosterone (I mean it would b 5 boys and 3 girls) so Shae (and yes I purposely spell it like that I don't like spelling names traditionally) evens out the numbers…for now. I think most of Ch. 10 is gonna be in Claire's POV. What do u think? Well, as always, review plz! I know the A/N is long but don't forget to review the story 2 ; ) and thanks everyone for reviewing so far! I love u guys!!!**


	11. Shae

**A/N: YAY! Chapter 10! Ok im gonna start w/ an itty bit of Bella and then go 2 Claire's POV which I was gonna start as soon as they got 2 the cullens' but that was long and tedious and didn't explain anything new except 4 exactly what she was thinking when Alice was talking 2 her and stuff. WHOOO! This is a long one, its also pretty important so pay attention. Its not too exciting tho and im sorry about that but it will be I just need this chapter and like half of next chapter. : D. LOVES - Bitten**

Shae

**Bella's POV**

She was very pretty and looked like she belonged with the Cullens. Her dark, dark brown hair curled in big loose spirals that framed her face beautifully, it wore little make up, probably a small amount of foundation, some mascara and red lip gloss. The longest parts of her chocolate hair, which had been weighed down into glossy waves instead of spirals, were an inch or two past her shoulders. The spirals contrasted electrically with her bright green eyes and I had changed my mind about how tan she was. She looked dark against all of the Cullens but had the tan of anyone who lived in the Pacific Northwest.

"Hello." I said. Not sure if I was allowed to say hi and actually converse with people yet

"Hi." Claire mumbled shyly.

"Nice to meet you guys." She said ducking her head in a sort of nod.

We stood there for an awkward moment until I poked Edward's side. "Oh. Yes. Um, well proceed with your devouring of Bella and Claire. The introductions are done."

Immediately, everyone was up, including Shae, who went to stand near Carlisle and Esme. She was immediately dwarfed by the enormous vampires with a height of about 5'7". I couldn't tell how old she was, younger than Claire I was almost sure. Sixteen or seventeen was my guess.

I only had a few seconds to think because Emmett's huge arms crossed over my back and pulled my feet straight up off of the ground. His voice mixed with everyone else's greetings and admiration of Claire and I.

**Claire's POV**

I felt so out of place in the over powering beauty of Edward's "family". Did they recruit all of the pretty vampires or what? Every single one of them was absolutely gorgeous. Even Shae was extremely pretty, did they get pretty humans first and then turn them into vampires?

I waited behind my mom as each person bombarded her with hugs and words. Saying how much alike she and I were and how sorry they were. For what? The first person, er vampire?, to finish with her was the big one. He was the shortest but was definitely not short, maybe 5'10" or 5'11". He was by far the most muscular, his thick arms nearly squeezed the life out of my mom, like cobras. I think she introduced him as Edmund, no Ermit, crap that's not it. It started with an 'E' with two syllables.

"_Emmett_" Edward emphasized as the big one made his way toward me. "This is Claire." _Thank you_! I thought. Edward gave a slight nod and turned back to monitor the mayhem that was swallowing my mother.

"Yeah dude, I know. I have a brain." Edward rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed breath. Emmett stuck out his hand and smiled, he had the same scary white teeth as Alice. I wonder if her name was my mom's inspiration for my middle name. "Hey." He said simply.

"Hi. Uh, nice to meet you." My hand looked like a doll's hand in his.

"You look like your mom did, smell different though." He said sniffing the air. Holy freaking crap! Are they doing this on purpose? I could feel sweat on my palms and a drop starting to move its way uncomfortably between my shoulder blades. His mouth opened, oh my god, is he going to bite me? His hand still enclosed mine in a steely grip. He didn't look menacing but I couldn't help that my pulse quickened in that moment.

He closed his mouth and turned his head slightly to the left. "Are you scared of me?" He said suddenly.

I swallowed hoping that the movement would open up my airway. "uh…ah…no." I choked out. How did he know that? Did he know by the way that I was sweating, or were my eyes really wide? Did he have some sort of vampire skill that senses emotion? Where was Edward? Wasn't he supposed to prevent stuff like this from happening?

He squinted his eyes at me and asked, "He told you we were ok, right?"

"Uh. Ok?"

"We don't hurt people." With his unused hand, he pointed at Shae, "I mean she _lives _with us." He shrugged, my hand still in his. "It's ok that you're scared. Who wouldn't be? But I'm just saying we're safe. If it helps."

It actually made me feel better, how he was so matter of fact. And Shae did live with them after all. "Thanks." I smiled.

He dropped his hand and gave another huge, gleaming smile. "Nice to meet you, glad I could help." He said and walked to the back of the mass of people, putting his arm around the gorgeous blonde who glared at me momentarily. She can't seriously have been jealous of him shaking my hand.

The taller boy with blonde hair was next. He apologized profusely to my mom and each time she told him that 20 minutes was all of the time it had taken to forgive him and 20 years was just ridiculous. I guess she gave me sort of a truthful explanation on why she left. Jasper had done something but I highly doubt he had anger management problems.

After meeting him I was even less terrified. I found that I actually _enjoyed_ meeting him and the rest of the family. Except for the blonde, Rosalie, she didn't seem to like me all that much. Carlisle was very nice and surprisingly young. I had expected him to be much older because he was after all, their "dad". Esme was young as well. She was the only one to immediately greet me with a hug, twice, actually. Alice was allowed to apologize and she actually seemed fun. She even invited me to go shopping with her and Shae sometime. Rosalie didn't look me in the eye and only said a quick 'hello, nice to meet you' before she returned to the big one, shoot, Emmett.

I learned quickly that the cold hands were not specific to just Edward and that _all_ vampires are cold. By the time I was done meeting everyone, my hand felt as though I had stuck it in a freezer for half an hour. So, when I finally met Shae, her hand made mine feel like it was on fire because of how warm it was.

"Oh." She said when our hands joined, "Your hand's cold."

"Yeah, sorry. Vampires." I sighed sarcastically.

"They take some getting used to, huh?" She laughed, "I'm Shae. If you forgot."

"Claire. You're from Vancouver?" I asked. I knew nothing about Vancouver, how was I supposed to make a conversation about something I didn't know.

"Yeah. I hated it. You're from?"

"Phoenix. I LOVE this place because in Phoenix, even being in the pool isn't enjoyable. It's like 85 degree bathwater. Why'd you hate Vancouver?" I was going to get mixed up soon this was like having two different conversations.

"People. My dad. My school. The town. I have always wanted to live in Phoenix."

"Really? It's kind of a hot, boring, city. I have always wanted to get out. You hated school? Like even the people?"

She blinked a couple of times. "I'm sorry I'm confused now, we're like having a double conversation here. How about this, since they are peeling off into their respective pairs," She motioned towards the stunning group of vampires and my mom, "lets go hang out in my room. I have food." She flashed a smile and whipped her long brown hair around. Food. I was starving. I hadn't eaten since this morning at breakfast and I should have gotten _extra_ food for how trying this day had been.

"Do they eat anything?" I wondered aloud. I wouldn't think they needed to but they can go out in the sun and don't have fangs so I don't know anything anymore.

"Well they, uh, drink. But not here, it's too dangerous for me. Smelling the blood causes them to lose control, act on instinct. And I am, apparently, more appealing than animal blood." She wrinkled her nose but that was it, she didn't seem phased by that fact that they could kill her in a matter of seconds without any warning.

"That doesn't scare you?" I asked as we made our way up a flight of stairs.

"No. Because I know that they can control themselves and they never bring blood in so, I have nothing to worry about." She said calmly. Maybe it just takes time to get used to, time to accept. I wonder how my mom reacted. When exactly did she find out? After they started dating? Before? Did she guess, or did he tell her? I decided I would ask later.

"So do they eat like human food?" Someone not participating the conversation may have thought we were talking about dogs.

"Well, not for pleasure. I dared Emmett to eat a brownie once. I mean come on, a brownie. Who doesn't like brownies? And he said it tasted like wool looked. If that makes any sense." She smiled, remembering.

"How long have you lived with them?" How did she end up with them in the first place?

"Well I guess we're talking about me now. I should probably start from the beginning." She walked to the door at the end of the hallway upstairs and turned the handle.

She didn't _just_ have food. In the far right hand corner, there was a full sized refrigerator with a freezer below it, a microwave that sat to the left of the fridge and a hotplate to the right. The room was spacious even with the huge appliance sitting in the corner. A twin sized bed sat perpendicular to the wall on my left. Its beautiful cream-colored bedspread added to the room's classic look. The floor was not carpeted as the rooms that I had snuck a peek into were. She had lacquered maple wood that cut diagonally through the lines created by the bed.

"Wow." I breathed and stepped fully into the room. Where a wall would have been on my right, stood a colossal bookcase. It was filled to the utmost with books of all sizes, their haphazard order occasionally disturbed by a picture frame or a collection of small items. "This is incredible."

"I'm still not used to it. My room in Vancouver was seriously the size of the uh, the kitchen, I guess you could say." She smiled sheepishly, embarrassed at its extravagance. In the "kitchen" were the fridge, microwave and hotplate. On top of a rectangular rug front of them sat a massive, tiled coffee table, the edges obscured by countless magazines and books piled on top of each other. They looked as though they had been pushed aside to make room for the bowl of cereal and box of gold fish that sat in the center.

She sank into the foot of her bed, making room for me at the head. "I was born in Florida. My family wasn't extremely wealthy but my dad was able to put food on our table, pay the bills and have a small bit of cash left over which he would use for repairs, replacements and my tiny college fund. I'm an only child." She got up and walked to the far side of the room where the wall-to-wall bookshelf rested and picked up a picture frame. It landed face down on the books arranged chaotically on her nightstand.

"Did your mom work?"

"No. She was extremely afraid of public bathrooms. It sounds kind of silly but if we were out in public like at a restaurant or the mall, she would demand that we go home if she needed to go to the bathroom. It became sort of a hassle so we didn't eat out or go shopping much." She bent forward and grabbed the picture frame, holding it for me to see.

The woman in the photo looked like a 25 year old version of Shae. Her loose tank top bulged out as if she had stuck a basketball underneath it. She stood on a rocky cliff, the clear, blue sea thrashing behind her.

"That's her. Apparently we look a lot alike. This is before she kind of went psycho. I wish I had known her then, known the girl that my dad fell in love with because it sure as hell wasn't the neurotic basket case that I grew up with." She gritted her teeth and conjured a fake smile. "So your mom's really young. She looks like in her late 20's but that's not possible because even if she was thirty she would have been like 13 when she had you." I allowed the brief detour into my life.

"Wow. She would be really flattered if you told her that. Not many women look a decade younger than they actually are." Iz had been blessed with healthy skin. She had no scars from teen-prone acne, small pores, and even though she lived in Arizona, not much of her time was spent in the sun so, the weathered skin that usually stole the youth from a person's overly-sunned face never appeared on her.

"No way. She's almost forty? I would have thought thirty, um, three at most." She cocked her head to the side like a puppy, "So how old is she exactly anyway? Or does she like keep it a secret?"

"Nope, no secrets, one of the honest few living in Scottsdale, Arizona." I rolled my eyes thinking of all of all of the people whose faces blurred together. Spray tanned. Scalpel cut. Laser tightened. Botox plumped. And for what? In the end, it made them look older than they actually were. "She's thirty-seven. But doesn't act like it, or, apparently, look like it either."

"You two look more like you could be sisters than mother and daughter." She smiled but her eyes didn't meet mine. They drifted to the picture frame still held in her hand.

"Your mom looks young in that picture too, how old was she, twenty-two?" I could see that she was thinking of her and to me, my life is pretty boring, and hers is so different and exciting I mean, she lives with vampires.

"Twenty-six."

"So that makes you…"

"Seventeen. My birthday's in November. I think they conceived me on Valentines Day because 9 months backwards from November is Valentines Day." Eew.

"My birthday's in November too. I guess that makes me about a year older than you." If she is seventeen, she is technically kidnapped. In her father's eyes, at least. "So, that's why you guys are here?" They couldn't go out in normal public, her dad probably had her face melted into the sides of every milk carton in the northwest.

"Say what?" She reluctantly looked up from the frame, setting it on her lap.

"Are you guys in Forks, hiding, because if you went anywhere else someone might recognize you?"

"No I just can't go to major cities, state capitols or tourist attractions like Disney Land, Sea World, Universal Adventure, Grand Canyon, etcetera."

"Why is that?" It's not like they put up huge missing posters in theme parks.

"Well because of the employees." Her 'duh' tone suggested that I should already know this.

I didn't.

"Employees in cities and tourist attractions? That's like everyone in America. And the world actually." So, was this her cryptic way of saying that she couldn't go in public because _everyone_ would recognize her? I didn't recognize her, does that mean I'm not everyone, but I am not after all an employee in a city. I am a student. Was a student. So was she.

"No. My dad's employees." The same 'duh' tone was in her voice.

She said so herself that her dad was a middle American man who was able to provide the essentials for his family with a tiny bit of money to spare. I wasn't aware that it meant that he had employees in every huge city and amusement park in the US, maybe the world. "You said that your dad, your mom and you lived together in Florida and you weren't extremely wealthy. Did you live in some sort of screwed up community where employees all over America equaled _not_ extremely wealthy?"

She coughed up a short, harsh laugh. "I _didn't_. At least not then anyways."

"Still not following you."

"Sorry. I'll start where I left off." She thought for a moment, "Where did I leave off?"

"You are an only child. You grew up in Florida, your dad may or may not have been extremely wealthy."

"Well, he wasn't. He worked in construction, at first in the field, 16 hours a day, blood, sweat and my mother's lonely tears. He was gradually promoted until he was project manager, basically the architect's bitch but everyone else's boss. When I was in 8th grade, probably March or April, he came home one day and said we were leaving. No one argues with my dad." She pulled at the layer of shimmery pink on her thumb. "We were packed in a week."

"And you went to Canada? Don't you have to have like a green card if you aren't a citizen?" Or is that just in America?

"No. Minnesota. But that was only for the rest of the school year. We bought a car, in cash, and then went to Canada. My dad was supposed to have cousins or something there but when we got there, there were no cousins, of course." She raised her shoulders and lifted her hands, as if she were giving up. " He was weird from the second we moved, on. Always paying in cash, telling us not to ask questions, making us shut our mouths about the move in public."

I felt like I should say something. She didn't look like she needed comforting but it wasn't something I could crack a joke about. I just stared at her dumbly, trying to fit the broken pieces of information together.

"When we got to Canada, my dad drove past the cities into suburbia. He glanced a map a few times and pulled into a neighborhood lined with houses adorned with picket fences and green grass. We were the third down on the left. A hole where I assumed the "For Sale" sign must have been situated was a scar on the perfect, green lawn. I wanted to puke." She made a face, one full of revulsion and anger, took a deep breath and continued, "I had never pictured James and Melissa as suburban robots. On the door was a note. 'Paid in full' was all that it said."

"James and Melissa?" I asked, glad to have something to say, although I figured that they were her parents. "And where was your dad getting all of the money. I mean moving in a _week_, buying cars, paying in cash? I'm sorry, did you explain it an I missed it?"

"James and Melissa are, were," She corrected herself, confusing me even more, "my parents. My mother and I didn't know where the cash was coming from. We thought he may have robbed a bank but he didn't change our names or cancel his and my mom's two credit cards. Then we thought maybe a promotion but he didn't even work in Minnesota and found a completely different job in Canada. We were at a loss and finally gave up." She dropped her hands on her thighs.

"So you still don't know where the money came from?" How could she live a life where she didn't know the identity of her wealth?

"My mom didn't. All that I put together was that the company had completely paid for our house and he was being paid off to keep his mouth shut about something. It, I believe, was something that he saw while doing some sort of job inspection. I'm still not sure exactly how much he gets or if it is monthly or yearly. What I do know that it is enough to sustain him if he never worked again. He did work though, and that it what bought our groceries and paid our bills. Everything else, always paid, in cash, via the mail of all things, went into different projects."

"Projects as in like project houses and communities, or projects like building dog houses for your nonexistent dog?" Sometimes people who just come in to a great deal of money feel like they should do something with it and there is a very likely chance that he did something completely useless with the money that he was paid.

"At first charities, homes, the usual suspects. But he became obsessed with refurbishing bathrooms." Something like that. "My mom, as I think I mentioned, hated public bathrooms so, he began donating money for the construction of five star bathrooms in every location that we went frequently. I mean local restaurants, museums, libraries, malls, city buildings, state parks, zoos, amusement parks. When he ran out of local places, he began donating everywhere we went. Other cities, some other countries. Even if the bathroom was infinitely nicer than its location, he insisted that it be built." She closed her eyes. "Then she died."

"You mean he?" I thought she hated her dad and that's why she left Vancouver. Maybe she hated that he was dead.

"No. She. My mom." Her expression was the one of nothingness that people who have experienced great loss train themselves to. The one that says nothing and shows nothing but everyone knows that something is wrong. "She isn't to blame. She had advanced lung cancer. The symptoms that she attributed to the stress of my dad's secrets, lies and shifty ways were actually the progression of cancerous cells from her lungs, to her lymph nodes into her blood. By the time she saw a doctor, it was past treatment. So, I guess you can sort of blame my dad."

"Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. That must have been awful with everything going on with your dad. I mean beyond awful. I don't personally know but I cant even imagine. How old were you?" I stumbled over my words trying my best to express how sorry I was, and failing.

"Its ok. Really. I know how hard it is to try and provide comfort when its never needed to have been provided to you. I was fifteen. We had time to say goodbye and visit a few of the outrageously over the top bathrooms that my dad had built. She had been put through hell with my dad's stand-offishness and being jolted by the move. Even when he knew she was dieing, when he knew that it might be the lasts words they spoke to each other, my dad was guarded. Always with a secret. She died not knowing."

A bird flew past her window casting a quick shadow in the corner. I jumped and she smiled. "How'd your dad take it?" I still felt stupid. I was sitting on her bed, she was spilling all of this super secret stuff about her family and my eyes grew wider and wider. My mouth may have dropped a couple of times but I quickly picked it up again.

"He walked around dazed. He didn't talk to anyone except for the locations where he commissioned the construction of bathrooms. Even though she was dead, he thought he was some how honoring her by continuing the building. He also thought that I was taking it very hard and forced me into extremely awkward social gatherings." She grabbed the frame from her lap and stood up. She walked stiffly to the bookshelf, her legs clearly still taut from being folded under her for the lengthy conversation.

"You like pictures?" I asked uncomfortably.

"Not really. I just took the first ones I could find in my dad's study so that I would always have something to remember them by."

"Them meaning your parents?"

"My parents. The people at school. The places I went. Not that I enjoyed them but they were a part of my life, you know?" She put her previous frame on the shelf and grabbed two or three more. They made a light smacking sound as the air between them and the down comforter was pushed out. She lightly tossed one into my lap.

"That one is when I went to a function with him, post-mom. The functions were for the wealthier people. Which we were but my dad didn't have a wealthy job so, the wealthy high school kids wanted nothing to do with me. And since I lived in the burbs and my dad drove a shiny sports car, the city dwelling, normal kids who I wished I would accept me because I _was_ them didn't want me either. I was alone, alone, alone." She didn't seem too upset about it just annoyed that they didn't understand. "That's why when the Cullens came, I was so glad that they just didn't care. But I could tell that they also had a secret."

I think she began to say something else but it was at that moment that I noticed the name that was etched into the silver metal of the frame. Turmadouri Christmas Luncheon. _Turmadouri. _Like the bathrooms in the mall. Oh, no way.

"Who's, um, function?" I didn't even try for the careless, casual approach.

She leaned over on her elbow and adjusted her eyes to the people and letters. "Oh. I guess that was my dad's. No wonder I went."

"I think one of his bathrooms is in the mall here. Right before Edward grabbed me, I noticed the sign on the inside of the stall door."

"You're kidding right, I mean about the bathrooms?" She wasn't curious or pleasantly surprised. Her voice was littered with annoyance and surrender. "Maybe you misread it. Maybe someone else kind of does the same thing. I mean my dad cant be the _only_ one." She was beginning to panick.

"Does that mean we cant go shopping?" I didn't know why she might be as upset as she was.

"That means I cant go anywhere. They could be anywhere. My dad hires people to maintain the bathrooms, keep them good looking and healthy, report back to him on how things are going. I know it's incredibly stupid but I can't change it." I suppressed a snort at the absurdity of a bathroom reporter who just inspected Mr. Turmadouri's elaborate restrooms.

"So they all know you personally. I mean if there are as many bathrooms as you say, why would it matter." They are just like any employee anywhere else. They go to work, do their job, go home.

"My dad may be irrational and idiotic at times but he isn't stupid. He knows how many bathrooms he has and where they are. All over. When he first started his bathroom conversion mission, he told me that if I was ever kidnapped, the chances are high that if I was taken somewhere, even in a different city, my kidnappers and I would stumble into one of his bathrooms. He said that he would have the employees learn my name and picture. I'm not taking any chances." She pressed her feet against the floor and pushed her torso from the bed with her hands, scooped up the pictures from the bed without me getting a chance to have a look and I handed her the one in my limp hands. "He is crazy. I know that it doesn't sound possible, but it is and he will sooner or later find a way for everyone he knows to have my image branded into their brains."

They cant leave. My mom would spiral into another awful depression. She cant see him for a day and then he disappear again. Everything that she had worked so hard for, that we had built would come crashing down.

I heard shouting from down stairs. "_You don't know what you are saying! Have you thought of anything? Any of the after math, what about your family?_" It was definitely a male voice.

"Should we go down?" I asked Shae. Not exactly sure of the shouting, fighting protocol in the house.

"Well, you heard the abridged half of my life story. I guess we deserve a break." She laughed and flung her door open. _Half?_ What was the other half?

**A/N: So I had 2 post this in a hurry and didn't have time 3 check grammer and spelling so sorry if there are any mistakes. WOW! That took a while to update. And im sorry if its kind of choppy. It took me a while to write so I would pick up where I left off and it would take a minute to get back into it so im sorry. Not a lot of action in this one. Sorry. Lots of Shae talking because I didn't quite know how to interrupt her. Bella and Edward next chapter! Review plz! And thanks to everyone who has reviewed loyally so far! I love u guys!!! LUVS - Bitten**


	12. How to Get into the Cullens':Part 1

**A/N: OK. So this is Bella after all of the "welcome backs" and hugging cuz we all know that that's all anyone says along with the "I missed you's" and "Edward was so wrong to leave's" and "Jasper feels **_**so**_** bad's". so here is what goes down on the bottom floor of the Cullens' house during Shae's long half-life story. Oh and this is kind of random and has absolutely **_**nothing**_** to do with the story but Bella never met Jacob because in New Moon she met him in February w/ the whole motor cycle fiasco but here, she got pregnant in February and that changes things. **

How to Get into the Cullens': Part 1

**Bella's POV**

Each member of the Cullen family filtered through me to Claire, standing behind me. Everyone welcomed her as warmly they had welcomed me except for Rosalie, of course, who was visibly less than thrilled that Claire was in on their secret.

All of the couples in the Cullen house migrated toward each other, Edward and I were no exception which left Shae and Claire. They took one look at us and headed for the stairs.

"So who picked up Shae?" I inquired, curious to know why she, a stranger could _live_ with them but I wasn't worthy so many years ago.

Carlisle cleared his throat. "She sort of picked us up."

"You mean, she knew?" When I first met them, I figured that they were just sort of anti-social. It took a miraculous collision-diversion to even make me _suspicious_ of who Edward was but even then, he just frustrated the hell out of me.

"She sort of had a lot of time to observe." Edward added.

"He _means_ she didn't have any friends." Rosalie said and flicked something from the wall that she was leaning against.

"Please, Rose. Neither did you." Jasper rolled his eyes. He seemed to be doing well being around Claire and I. Maybe it was having Shae in the house all of the time, or the 20 years of additional abstinence from human blood.

"No sense in making friends if we're just going to move again in two years. Besides, while _they_ are worried who is taking them to _prom, _I am planning mine and Emmett's next wedding." She added sneering at me every time she referred to humans as _they _or _them_.

"Exactly. So there is no need to be a bitch about Shae's lack of social interaction. Those kids were complete brats anyway." He spoke to her slowly as if she were a child and with each word, her jaw snapped, her eyes blinked, her thumb twitched, her lips curled, and finally she whipped around so that he long blond hair lashed his face and stormed into the kitchen.

"Rose-" Emmett started but turned back to us and muttered, "forget about it."

"So anyhow," Edward drew us back patiently, "Shae took an interest in us."

"More like took an interest in _you_." Alice scoffed.

Edward turned his head slowly toward her raised his eyebrows which asked _do you really want to start this?_

She giggled and added, "Its not like she though _I_ was _mmm sexaay._" The rest of the Cullens couldn't help but release the snorts and chuckles that they were trying to suppress. I, myself, was not in on the joke and Edward didn't seem all too amused so, we stood there, his cold fingers laced in my warm ones.

"That's…what," Emmett sputtered between silent heaves of laughter, "Shae…thought…" He couldn't continue because his laughter had actually caused him to bend in half.

Jasper looked up, his lips still twitching with amusement, "What she thought when she first saw Edward." He finished Emmett's broken sentence.

"Yeah. And he was stupid enough to laugh…and then tell us." Alice turned to him and shot her tongue out.

"And he wont ever forget it." Emmett said, finally calm enough to speak.

"I'm sure she was just joking with herself guys." Edward tried to reason but it just prompted another outburst.

"So she watched you guys…" I cued Edward to continue with the story.

"Yes. She was interested in us because we were a big family, mid-year transfer, we didn't eat and before we came she was the only solo in her biology class, you know for labs, but Alice was placed in the same class. They ended up being partners but unfortunately for Shae, Alice could attend the lectures but not the labs because most often, it involved blood but, Alice made the mistake of trying to make up for it by attending all of the labs _not_ involving blood." He turned to Alice and made a _so ha_ face.

Jasper picked up where Edward left off. "She kept a journal, like would be expected of a teenage girl a bit on the unsociable side. Not having much to fill it with, she began a sort of unintentional Cullen watch. She wrote about what interested her that day, maybe a test, or news about her dad's extravagant business, which we will get to in a second, but we _really _interested her so, every day, she would come home with some piece of information about the Cullens and write it down in the journal." Jasper held his hand out to Esme, offering her the rest of the story.

"So this journal came in handy to her later. It had been about two months when we, meaning, they," She motioned toward her adopted children, " slipped up. Alice, hoping to talk to Rosalie about Emmett's birthday pulled her out of a free period that she had with Emmett to talk in the hall. Why it had to be _that period_, I still don't-"

"I needed to ask Rose if she was planning to do anything for his birthday so that if she was I didn't reserve the arcade just to have to turn around and cancel it." She sighed, "I already told you that."

"You reserved and _entire_ arcade?" Emmett asked in awe.

"Yup. It would have been pretty sweet too because they had laser tag." Alice added proudly.

"I still don't know why it couldn't have waited one period. But it doesn't matter now because I love that Shae is a part of our family. So Alice pulls Rosalie out of class with a phony note from a teacher and Rosalie thinks she needs to talk to her about _us_. You know, being vampires."

Alice, interrupting again says, "I gave _no_ hint that it was _anything_ about us. Nothing but anyway Bella," _Iz,_ I almost corrected but realized that I was Bella again, "this is where it goes wrong."

"Thanks for that, hon," Esme boinged on a smile. Was that a joke? Was Esme using sarcasm? "So. Rosalie steps in the hall and says clear as day, _I smell humans_. I don't know why she said it so loud we never will. So Alice goes, _Shut up Rose it's a freaking school, it reeks of humans._ _But I didn't come here to talk about _us_. I wanted to ask you about Emmett's birthday. I know we don't actually have birthdays, it doesn't matter but I think it's time to get Edward partying again._ It smelled like humans because Shae was at her locker grabbing a book and had turned the corner when she heard a door close and someone say, _I smell humans._ Who wouldn't be intrigued." She looked out of the corner of her eye at Alice, asking her to complete the account.

"So, Shae lingers just around the corner to hear what the hell these people are talking about and then she hears the names _Rose_ and Emmett, so duh it's the Cullens who else names their kid _Emmett_,"

"Hey. At least my name is original. Unlike alice like a fourth of the women in the world are named Alice." He complained defensively.

"Ok first that's a lie its like a sixth and second let me finish the story, and so, she hears something about _us _and birthdays not mattering. Along with Rose and I blatantly saying that it smelled like _humans_. What normal human says, _it smells like humans_. Anyone else would have dismissed it, said that we were looney. But Shae had, after all, been watching us and knew that there wasn't something right about the whole thing." Alice looked up at Emmett and gave a brief puppy dog face and then switched lightning fast to an over eager smile.

"I guess it's my turn. So Shae can barely wait till school gets out so that she can write this down. You know, in her journal. She gets home and writes it all down and when she finishes, she gets this idea. She knew that we must be hiding something, that there was something very different about us. So, she goes through her journal and makes a list."

"A list?" I asked.

"Yeah. She went through and made a list of all of our attributes. First off with the looks. We are all pretty good looking. Second, we don't eat, ever. And she would see days where she wrote, We had to dissect a cat's brain today. Alice didn't show. Maybe something like, Explored cow heart. AliceNo show. Or, Genetic mapping lab. Alice came to class. This one's good, Blood typing. No Alice. Remember when you and Edward weren't even 'dating' ", he used air quotes on the word _dating, _"and you totally passed you when you saw the blood when you guys were blood typing in Bio."

"Yep. I remember, vividly. It was more than embarrassing." But he was so strong and I remember him laughing when he heard that I fainted because of blood. Ah, had I only known.

"She also re-discovered pages that described our immense grace, how fast she had seen us move on more that one occasion, that all five of us weren't at school on some days and one time she came over with Alice to work on a power point and had the strange experience of being in a house without a refrigerator, we told her we didn't trust them so she said, _what were you born in like the 1800s or something_. No joke. And she wrote that down too. But the most important factors that stood out to her at the time were Alice's non-presence during the bloody labs and how we never ate. She had seen enough horror movies with the stereo-types of vampires with fangs, pale skin (which we have) and that drink blood (she figured that Alice couldn't be in the lab or else she would drink the blood from the table). Gross I know." It made my stomach flip-flop to just think about the formaldehyde and nasty stuff, including the blood itself that would appear in Bio. "She was innocent. She figured that she would give it a shot and if it didn't work, she couldn't have less friends than she already did."

"Wait." I realized that they had pretty much been telling me Shae's story. "How do you know this?"

Carlisle spoke up, "They," He, like Esme, motioned toward his 'children', "invited her over to explain the full extent of why she was doing what she was doing. Edward, I'm sure, told you before that if we think a person is suspicious of us, we pack up and leave. With Shae, we didn't even have time. She decided to ask the night that she heard Rose and Alice and during Rosalie's free. During lunch the next day, Edward heard _vampire_ in someone's thoughts, which always piques his interest. Hearing what someone was saying about vampires but when he realized that it was coming from Shae, about us. He told everyone that they needed to leave right away."

"I told Alice, Alice told Jasper and so on. We were up in seconds and moved as fast as we could without raising alarm as to why the Cullens were running in the cafeteria. We couldn't full out run just outside though either because of teachers and staff members patrolling around campus. Rosalie turned around because Emmett was being funny and tapped on her shoulder." He rolled his eyes, " and then she saw Shae who had followed us. _Oh. Shae._ Rose said, not bothering to mask her alarm. Shae took a visible and audible deep breath and walked up to us. _I know what you guys are_. She-"

Alice cut him off and continued. It felt like it was one of those stories that everyone went around in a circle and said a couple of sentences to create some wacky tale. "So she just puts it out there. _I know what you guys are and if you're planning on leaving, you're taking me with you._ And she stood in front of us until someone said _well what do you think we are? _And it went from there. After she had given us 'proof', we asked her why we could be outside in the daytime. She replied something about _direct_ sunlight melting us. We asked about coffins, she said that there were no beds either. And it went on from there." She shrugged. "She's cool now though."

"Why didn't you just tell her to shut her mouth? I mean I knew about you guys and you didn't just up and leave. Right away."

Edward squeezed my hand and said, "You were and are important to me. I _chose_ to tell you and knew that you wouldn't say anything. Shae sort of threatened us."

"Like, if you don't take me with you I'm going to kill you, kind of threat?" I asked, "Because I think you guys could take her."

"No." Emmett cut in, "a, if you don't take me I'll tell everyone, sort of threat. And we really didn't want to be running from the police or the Feds or anyone like that."

"So we took her in," Esme smiled the smile of a new mother, "and she has been absolutely wonderful. She never complains and had good reason to want to leave. She didn't feel like she belonged anywhere in Vancouver. After her mom died, her dad backed away and they weren't a family anymore, and at school, she was alienated because of the wealth that her dad had. But here, with us, she feels like she belongs."

"And she does." Carlisle said looking toward the stairs

**A/N: So sorry the chapter got cut short and I didn't really know how 2 write it and make it smooth. Sorry. And I ran out of time 2 write cuz im leaving 2day for another week long trip so, I wanted 2 give u guys something. The part w/ the shouting will be in next chappie and next chapter might be kind of short because this chapter and the next 1 were supposed 2 b one. O and btw I made up a date for Emmett's birthday because I didn't know his real 1. And next chapter is also just Bella and Edward no other Cullens. Hope u guys aren't angry! LUV U!!!! Bitten**


	13. Kissing Edward Cullen

**A/N: Holy Goodnesss! I know it has been an immensely long time since I updated, or at least it seems that way to me. Well I believe this chapter is super cute, pretty much just fluff cuz I know I was getting angry with the lack of BxE and so were a few other people so I threw this one in. It's kinda short, sorry but it's something, right? Ok, hope u all enjoy and I love you a whole lot. BittenChapter 13 is coming soon! I have a whole 5 days of **_**no**_** vacation so it's prime writing time**

Kissing Edward Cullen

**Bella's POV**

Having heard enough about Shae, I pulled Edward away from the Cullens' continued chatter about her past and how her father's unlikely industry was a product of his wealth, not the source and so on and so forth. Rosalie had also returned after having found that she couldn't be a bitch when she was alone and Edward looked glad to be rid of her snide remarks on Shae and her family.

His fingers found mine and laced carefully between them, the cold sent a pleasant shiver down my spine.

We climbed the stairs and I made for Edward's bedroom. When the door opened though, it most definitely was not his bedroom, the walls were pink, a huge antique vanity stood in the left hand corner. Most of the room fit the antique/pink theme but on the wall on the right stood two walk-in closets. One was trimmed with a slightly darker shade of pink and the other with black and it had black shelves inside. Odd.

"Ehm. Yeah." Edward laughed, "That's Rose and Emmett's room."

"What's with the closets?" They most certainly were not there when Edward inhabited it.

"What the two colors? The black was Emmett's last attempt to add a 'macho'-his word not mine- feel to the room. But everyone just thinks it looks ridiculous." He laughed again.

"Well that, and did you have two walk-in closets that I never knew about?" I asked, glancing at the rest of the room deciding that they were the only new, permanent, additions, aside from the pink, of course.

"Oh. Right. Rose was _horrified_ to find that there was no room for her clothing so, she had them built. Unfortunately for me, I got the room next to hers and now I have two sizeable blocks of wall jutting into my room." He opened his palms to the ceiling in defeat.

He lead me to the unfamiliar room painted in a navy blue where, just as he said, two large blocks pressed out of the wall about two and a half feet apart. It was also noticeably larger than his last room.

"So, what's with the switch? Clearly not yours or Rosalie's idea. This one's bigger _and _it already has walk-in closets."

"Proximity."

"To…"

"Shae."

"I see. Carlisle and Esme didn't want anything happening there?" I joked.

"Absolutely not. Nothing would have happened regardless." His jaw clenched which sharpened his features, accentuated his beauty. "They wanted her close to Rose in case she got lonely or scared."

"And a whole ten feet makes a difference?"

"You know Esme. She wants to make it as easy as possible to be here with us even though it was Shae's who insisted on coming along anyway."

Examining the narrow space between the two shells of the closets, I backed in and ran my hands over the flat, blue, paint. There was a single light above me a bit like a spot light. "I feel like a prisoner." I smiled facing him.

"I'm sorry, would you like to leave?" He asked in mock concern. In less than a second he was in front of me, inches away.

"No." I tried to look defeated but a smile pushed it's way on to my face. "I suppose I rather like it now. With the company and all." He smiled his Edward smile and the part of my brain preventing me from getting closer to him shut down.

My hand raised on it's own accord and found it's way to his face. It lay there a moment, the tips of my fingers lightly at his temples, the heel of my hand barely touching his jaw line. In response, his hand slid around my waist, pulling me even closer. At the same time, we backed up until I was pressed between is body and the wall. My unoccupied hand was flat against the wall behind me as well.

"I love you Bella." He said it the softest whisper, his breath sweeter than I could ever remember. It had all happened so fast that I could feel my heart pounding in my finger tips and in my lips as they finally met Edward's. He was cautious at first; small, light, kisses. But I was hungry I wanted more, I needed him. My hand moved from his face to his long, coppery hair, my fingers twisting with the desire to be closer. The kisses came harder, more need, more passion.

"I love you too." I gasped between his lips. He pushed me upward so that my feet left the ground. I wrapped my legs around his waist to support myself. His hand now mirrored mine, tangled in my hair.

"Bella." He whispered before his lips left mine. Panic shot through me, not now I thought not when it's so perfect. But his lips soon reconnected with my neck, full of need again and as they trailed down toward my shoulder, my entire body arched with the pain of wanting him.

He pulled away and looked at me, still with my legs around his waist so that I was just as tall as he was, my hand, now out of his hair, gently resting on his marble chest. His eyes were not the lightest I had ever seen them but my favorite shade of gold. The one between translucent and black that mirrored the color of the sun reflecting off of the ocean at sun set.

"Why am I so lucky?" I mused.

He kissed me briefly, his lips moved against mine as he spoke, "Lucky would not be the word I would use to describe falling in love with a vampire."

I leaned back so that I would be able to look at him. "How would you know? As far as I know, you never have. I am lucky to have found you. Lucky, lucky, lucky and that is _exactly _the word I would use. And even if you were a regular old, boring human I would love you just the same.

"And I would be _lucky_ to have found you just the same too because you are cute," he raised his eyebrows as if asking _that's it_ so I continued, "and smart and passionate. You love more in a month than some love in a lifetime and most of all, I know that you care about me and out of all the however many billion people there are in the world, you were made for me as I was for you." I ducked my head so that we were millimeters apart, "and that is why I am so lucky."

He smiled under my lips and I giggled. Just as we were about to proceed, someone shouted from down below.

On the rarest of occasions could I remember shouting in the Cullen house so I could not distinguish exactly who it was, definitely a guy though.

"_You don't know what you are saying! Have you thought of anything? Any of the after math, what about your family?_"

"Dammit, Rose." Edward muttered angrily.

I released his waist and let my legs fell as my back slid down the wall. When my feet hit the ground, my legs were weak and my knees buckled. Edward caught me in a flash and held me up.

"You're cute, too." He chuckled, sliding his arm around my waist.

"You just say that 'cause I kissed you." I taunted, smiling.

"Well that too." He swung the door open. "Shall we?" He pointed at the stairs.

"We shall." I agreed and we set off for the commotion down stairs.

**A/N: So I bet that threw u for a loop. No it was **_**not**_** Edward yelling at bella but rather some dude yelling at Rosalie. Hm. Ok u find out next chapter Its coming soon! I have a whole 5 days of **_**no**_** vacation so it's prime writing time. I will also be reading harry potter, yes I was there at midnight to get my book. But, I'll find time. Luvs again-Bitten**


	14. The Possible Parting of a Princess

**A/N:Sorry I'm reposting because i need to clarify a couple of things in ending a/n and make a couple of gramatical corrections, i know. Me. Editing? Weird but anyhow, I know that the name of the chapter it super dumb but I was in a very Harry Potter-esque mood and it sounds (to me) like something J.K. Rowling might use. Or not, it's 1 in the morning and I am quite loopy because I've had like 3 mountain dews and there I go again. I don't normally say things like loopy, please excuse me. Ok. Hope u enjoy!!!**

The Possible Parting of a Princess

**Bella's POV**

We entered the hall just as Claire and Shae exited what I assumed to be Shae's bedroom. Claire looked up and surveyed our appearance a moment.

As they met us at the stairs, she whispered, "Your hair…looks…ruffled." She managed between giggles and glanced up at Edward, "Yours too." She snorted.

My face was immediately burning with the blush that I was sure had overtaken it by now. I heard Edward stifle a laugh beside me and pull me closer to his side

Once down the stairs it was apparent that Carlisle was doing the shouting from the center of the living room. Rosalie stood at the door, glaring.

"Having the human here is not helping." She said coolly.

"Her name is Shae! And not helping _what?_" Carlisle yelled, not quite as loudly as before.

"Liv-Being!" She retorted. Catching her self before saying living.

"It may not be helping _you_ with what even you need help with which, evidently is a lot, but that doesn't mean you have to run off and tell someone where she is." Edward interjected. "There's no need in taking such rash action and ruining the happiness of your family."

"Ha! The happiness of my family? What about _me?_ Don't I get to be happy?"

"You could have come to us," Esme pleaded, her voice wavering, "We could have come to a decision as a _family_." Her eyes would have been close to tears.

"Of course we couldn't discuss it! I know exactly how it would go. Lets try, shall we?" She offered, slightly crazed. "Carlisle, Esme, I don't think having Shane here is such a good idea." She suggested in a voice that I interpreted as a stab at Alice's constant peppiness.

"She prefers to be called Shae. And why is it that you think so?" Carlisle asked firmly.

"Well first, she's a human so I'm always having to be cautious. Second, she is _really_ slow and, uh, she has to you know, _eat_, like at certain times during the day." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Claire give her a 'well duh' look. "And she-she attracts _more _of them, see?" And jerked her head at Claire and I.

"You know perfectly well that Bella and Claire had no idea Shae was living with us. You met Bella 18 years ago." Edward shot back. His voice was disbelieving at the thought that she would pin something on us.

"Rose. Do you think that maybe you are just mad that things have changed?" Alice spoke for the first time on the far side of the living room, her voice was quiet, almost inaudible. Jasper stood beside her, their fingers locked together. On her other side Emmett's face had lost all traces of color and he was staring, stricken, at Rosalie.

"Change. Ha. Well Alice, if every time something changed and I got angry, I would have been driven into complete insanity long before now. Why? Well, we are the only things in the entire _world_ that do not change!" Her eyes were malicious, tiny slits as her voice grew angrier, more hysteric. "Everyone and everything around us changes, the land, the animals, our home, the cities, we cant even have long-term friends without giving ourselves away. The world changes around us and we are stuck in the bodies of supposed ignorant teenagers. People treat us like crap because we are young and need to be toughened up. I could crush them into powder because, most likely, I am actually _older_ than them.

"Edward's been seventeen for like 100 years. People who were born _after _he was bitten are now dead and they died of old age, something we will never experience. They had lived full, complete lives. Had children, then grandchildren and then maybe even great-grandchildren if they were lucky. What have we done? We drank the blood of innocent animals instead of preying on the same people who were allowed to live, bound by nothing. We moved every two or three, four if we were _really_ lucky, years. I have knowledge beyond those who consider themselves experts, scholars." She spat the word as if it were foul tasting, "But I am twenty years old why would anyone take me seriously?

"So, no Alice, I am not angry about the change. What makes me angry is the lack of change but that is neither the point or the discussion. As I said before, she's human, she doesn't belong here with us. It's her or me."

No one moved or spoke. I don't think the Cullens were even breathing.

"That's not true Rose." Edward spoke abruptly. "We didn't know we had to answer now."

"Think your stupid little glitch is going to save me from leaving? Think that knowing what's going on in my head before I do it will help prevent it? Nope. I'm gone." She turned lightning fast and flung the door open.

"Rose please!" Emmett tried to halt her. He moved as fast as he could, dodging a large glass coffee table, he reached for her arm, his large hand closed around her wrist and slid down so that his fingers were between hers. "Please." He said softer this time. How he could love her even when she was so vile, I would never know, but he did all the same.

I averted my eyes, feeling as though I was intruding on the moment, to find Shae crying silently into Claire's shoulder. I had been so enveloped in what Rosalie was saying that I had hardly even thought that Shae could hear her. Claire was combing through her long brown hair, not saying anything but what she was doing seemed to be working, the shaking in Shae's shoulders was easing.

I glanced up at Edward, he did not look angry but understanding. It occurred to me then that maybe he felt the same way but that Rosalie was the only one who had snapped and made it all known. It was only a glimpse because he must have noticed me look up at him and he turned his head and smiled me, his eyes remaining as contemplative as they had been before.

"Lets go back up stairs." He murmured. "Not quite the same atmosphere as this lovely gathering." His tone was bitter, thick with sarcasm. I reminded myself to personally thank Rosalie for obliterating the slightly euphoric minutes between Edward and I that had preceded her screaming match with her family.

We turned silently to go up the stairs. No one noticed for they were all in their own moments. Claire was comforting the girl that she had just barely met, Alice and Jasper had manage to find a spot to sit and revel in their functional relationship, Carlisle was whispering something reassuring to Esme who looked as though she was about to fall over with grief and Emmett and Rosalie were still arguing nearly silently, their lips moving quickly, almost unnoticeably.

Edward's bedroom furniture had remained the same though there were certain placement adjustments because of the useless (except for a nice cozy place to make out) blocks of wall. The blocks weren't huge, maybe four feet deep, which was only a fifth of the length of the bedroom, but they were cumbersome none-the-less. His huge wall of CDs and couch occupied the space past the ungainly shells of the closets and a newer even more extravagant sound system was set up in the corner. The speakers, I now noticed, were in the ceiling. One in every corner.

Edward made his way to the couch and laid down, his head rested against one of the arm rests. His long, white fingers beckoned me to join. I shook my head in a playful response, smiling. He seemed to understand for he smiled as well and using the entire lower part of his arm called me to him. I shut my eyes and shook my head vigorously. He began to laugh.

"You know Bella, the first time you got on my couch, I had to use brute force. As I recall, you were not frightened enough and I had do something about that. Please don't make me do it again, it was too much fun." He smiled that enchanting crooked smile and I couldn't resist.

I let out an overly-exasperated sigh and walked over to the couch, laying on top of him so that my ear would have been over his heart. He let his breathing fall into rhythm with mine and we lay there for minutes, maybe even hours before I decided to ask him about Rosalie.

I shifted so that my arms crossed, each of my hands grabbing the opposite shoulder. My chin rested in the triangle they formed so that it would not dig into his skin. Though I was sure that no harm would befall on him if I did but I might end up with an extremely sore chin. He felt me move and opened his eyes to discover I was watching him.

"What are you thinking about?" His voice was lazy but his eyes pierced mine.

"Do you feel like that too? Like what Rosalie was talking about?" I asked quietly.

His hands found my hips and with an easy movement, as if I weighed 10 pounds, pulled me up so that my elbows now rested on the couch beside his neck, my hands (I was pleasantly surprised to find) rested neatly against his hair so that I could run my fingers through it. His slightly lifted head was now in perfect alignment with mine. "Better." He whispered leaning forward, teasing my lips but instead kissed my forehead and fell back, a pleased grin on his face. But it vanished when I raised my eyebrows and he remembered my question.

"I am not nearly as morose and repellant as she is am I?" He verified quietly so as not to be heard if Emmett had convinced her to stay.

"Well on the 'Girls I would do' list I would say Rosalie is definitely out of top 5 because of how morose and repellant she is, though she is pretty hot. You on the other hand are definitely top 3 because well, I kinda like you. Shh. So no, you are not nearly as morose and repellant as her." I was absolutely, 100 joking and Edward found this highly amusing.

"You have a girls you would do list?" He asked, his eyes narrowing. I could feel his chest contract in the attempt to suppress a laugh. "And I wouldn't write your lists down, especially if I was in top 3 because I'm technically 17 and _technically_ that would be-"

I gasped. "Don't you even dare! If you don't say it, it's not true. And- and. Hm." I couldn't think of anything more to say.

His smile was wicked, he knew he had just terrified me beyond words. "So I'm not as revolting as Rosalie." He began again and muttered something about 'list' and 'fat chance'. But I let it slide.

"I shouldn't say that," I admitted, "I don't even know her. You told me before that it was just being around humans that got her all. Neurotic. I'm sure that she's like anyone-"

"If she were like any of us, she would be fine being around humans. She's just a bit more resentful." He looked as though he had been defeated long ago in this argument and it was now a moot point.

"And Emmett?" I asked. Not exactly sure what I was asking, why Rosalie? Did he like being in the midst of it? Did he feel indebted to her? Did he really just love her?

"They were a bit like you and me but minus the first six months and tweaked. So, not, really but anyhow, they were in love from the moment he was coherent after the bear and the change. She saved him you know, carried him all that way, his blood all over, the smell everywhere but still she refrained. That was the bit that I thought was like me and you but you lived which is even better." Involuntarily, I found the tiny cold spot on my hand. The one thing that reminded me all these years that it had really happened. There were no pictures, no keepsakes (until recently) that proved I had ever known him except for the minute part of what he was that rested on my hand.

"I guess I do sometimes think about Rosalie's general idea, on occasion, but not solely for the reason to hate it but because the good things are so fleeting because they do change. I take the small moments and hold on for the amount of happiness it brings me while it can and that happiness carries me through the pain of change until something just as or more exhilarating appears." His eyes were closed, searching for how to explain it as if it were written on the back of his eyelids.

"And I. Was I one of your exhilarating moments?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady but it cracked at _exhilarating_.

"No!" He bolted upright, sending me so that I was semi-straddling his waist, one leg stretched to the floor, the other bent at the knee on the other side of him. His face softened immediately when he saw the shock of the sudden movement in my face. He lowered himself into his former position but I was still recouping and stayed where I was.

"I was just about to say that that was true until I met you. The happiness before was a really good band that broke up or the extremely rare friend at school who we moved away from. But nothing compared to being with you, Bella. When we were together, I would sit at home wondering how I ever got through a day without you. I needed you, Bella, I still do." His eyes were huge, more golden than ever and penetrated, it seemed, past my eyes into my inner core where he belonged, where I needed him too. It was then that I lay back down across his chest, my hands, again finding his hair.

"I need you, too." I whispered in his ear. This time starting at his neck, I worked the kisses up too his jaw and found his mouth. When my lips missed and barely hit the corner he moaned at the closeness and his arms crushed my chest to his. His lips made sure to be dead on and unlike before when he had guarded himself, though infinitely more leniently than when I was 17, everything went and I didn't protest, I encouraged it. One of his hands moved into my hair, the other still had me pressed against him.

It was all happening so quickly and it was so over coming that I didn't even notice. I had finally coaxed him to open his mouth, to let me have more and his tongue passed mine and mine twisted for his and we were so unconscious of our actions, we had let our bodies take over. The kiss lasted forever, neither of us wanted it to end. The cold of his skin was alarming and wonderful. I needed to breathe and as I pulled away, his hand reached up the back of my shirt but before he reached his goal, I pulled away.

I could barely speak. The ecstasy of the moment had subdued the flames that now lashed at the side of my tongue. "Oh my god." I gasped, reaching my finger into my mouth. Sure enough, bloody saliva appeared at the tip of my index finger.

Edwards eyes were huge and I could feel him suddenly not breathing. "Oh God. _CARLISLE!_" His face was ashen, almost translucent. Through the pain I wasn't angry, well not at him anyways, I sure was angry at the pain, angry at the price but after it was over I could be with Edward and it was a price I was most certainly willing to pay.

The fire, the kind of icy heat you felt when you have been barefoot out in the freezing cold and you stick your feet in barely warm water, the one where it's so hot it's cold or vice versa, surged through my right cheek. How long had it been? How long was it before I noticed?

I heard Carlisle's voice but everything was becoming blurred at the edges like in old pictures but even Carlisle's voice was fuzzy on the edges if it's possible. The fiery sensation filled my mouth now, as if I had eaten an ice cube laced with fire.

"When did it happen?" Carlisle's voice was calm but hurried. "Do you think you could suck-"

"No!" I yelled or I hoped I had yelled it. I knew I thought it but they both turned to me.

"It's ok Bella, you're going to be ok." Edward's voice was shaky. His cold hand felt wonderful against my burning cheek.

"No!" I willed myself to say the next part it took everything to put the pain behind me and say it, "suck!" I managed. And fell back, Edward's arms catching me and putting me on the couch. It was too far and I wanted to be with Edward, I love him.

"Where Bella? Where does it hurt?" Carlisle asked still undecided on listening to my strained request.

I felt the front of my face clumsily for it had now spread all over my head. I could only hear now. My vision had gone black.

"Your whole face?" One of them asked. The distinction was becoming blurry. I willed myself to nod, I hoped I was nodding but I could never be sure. "Not just your tongue?" the voice asked. I shook my head with the last ounce of strength I could muster for the pain was pushing through my neck. It felt as though they were moving me. Someone had picked me up or was it just my head?

Each swallow I forced myself to make, so as not to drown in my own saliva, seemed to coax the heat further down. Was it subsiding in my head or was the pain elsewhere just stifling the original site? The fire crept past my neck and into my chest where a second later, it got pushed into my arms legs and torso and everything went black.

**A/N: (Just incase u didn't catch on, that was her last heart beat that sent the poison to spread everywhere else) This will be a short author's note. It is with great pride and little relevance that I announce that I have finished Harry Potter with a sufficient amount of tears and laughs I am very pleased with the ending and hope everyone else is/ will be. Sorry the end of this chappie is a bit rushed w/ her and Edward, but i hope u liked it. Next chapter is well under way!! Well now, my short a/n turned into a long one. What d'ya know? Ok well im proud of myself for finishing with surprising speed in lieu of past updates (ahem 2 weeks). Ok love u guys thanks again 2 everyone for reviewing in the past and maybe now? LOVE-Bitten**


	15. Blood vs Brownies

**A/N: Sorry about confusion w/ the A/N the end of last chappie. I was most definitely was not referring to a rush at the end of the story but at the end of the story. Thanks for the all reviews guys! We broke 100 YAY! And almost 10,000 hits. Enjoy this chappie. LOVE-Bitten**

Blood vs. Brownies

**Claire's POV**

Much to everyone in the house's discomfort, Rosalie felt it was time to storm off because she wasn't getting her way and on top of that, she elevated Shae's uncertainties of her belonging in the Cullens' home. Though after Esme was calmed and Alice overcame her apparent shock of Rosalie's meaningful speech, they comforted her profusely but she was still shaken and wanted to be in her room. Alone.

Rosalie had not been persuaded to reenter the house but had reluctantly allowed Emmett to accompany her where ever she was going. I believe he went with the intentions of preventing her from turning Shae and the Cullens in but there are no certainties. Carlisle and Esme had retreated to his study and Edward and my mother had snuck off to his room again most likely for more shameless 'hair ruffling'- to put it nicely- which left me alone with Alice and Jasper.

Our conversation began with the topic of my birthplace and had now moved to Alice's current question, "So did Bella ever tell you who, you know, your dad is?" She glanced up the stairs to the room where my mother was.

"I've never heard her called Bella more times in my life than I have today. Everyone at home calls her Iz." The Cullens belonged to an entirely different person than the mom I grew up with. Hearing them talk about her during our brief conversation, I wished I had known Iz when she was my age.

Alice let out an impatient huff, "People like _your dad?_" She asked conspicuously.

"No he lived here, in Forks."

"No way!" Alice breathed. She and Jasper both failed to muffle a laugh. "She got pregnant only a couple of months after Edward left, right?"

"I was born in November…"

"9 months backwards…February. Hm. Well options were extremely limited. Poor Bella. There was that one kid who almost ran her over. Do you remember that?" She turned to Jasper, he inclined his head. "Yeah. That was before she and Edward were even dating. His name was Tyler-"

"Crowly." Jasper finished for her. "Weird kid. He was in AP Calc with me, sort of a brain, wasn't he a Junior? He sat in front of me, which saved me from having to answer _anything_ if I just slouched 'cause he sat so tall with his hand always raised." He smiled.

"How do you remember that? And that's not him, I would remember the name Tyler. I had a boyfriend named Tyler once." It was a super generic name. If I had my backpack with me, the letter was stuffed in the front pouch and it said who he was in the letter. "It was, like, all American." Matt or Mark, something like that, and his last name may have been Smith for how distinctive it was.

"Vampire memories are super clear because of the potential length of our…being- to borrow a word from Rosalie." Alice piped.

"Well there were those two kids who were constantly battling over her. Mike and Eric were they?" Jasper tried the names. "The Mike one _really_ disliked Edward." And that was him, Mike.

"Yeah him!" I said.

"Which? Please say mike 'cause that Eric kid was positively horrid." Alice looked terrified.

"Yeah. Mike, his dad used to own the backpacking store." It seemed like years ago that Iz and I had made our trip there to retrieve hairnets and bug spray. That was where the creepy clerk had hit on me.

"Used to? They still-" Jasper's voice was drowned by a huge roar from upstairs.

"_CARLISLE!"_ Came Edward's voice from behind his bedroom door. It was panicky and without thinking, I jumped to my feet and headed for the stairs.

"Don't move." Alice commanded me. Her bubbly, light voice had vanished and she said it with such authority that I didn't dare disobey her and moved back to the armchair that I had occupied before.

Only a second later, a blur that I figured was Carlisle flew up the stairs so gracefully and quick, he hardly looked material.

I looked away from when Edward's door had been open and shut with inhuman speed to glance back at Alice and Jasper. Their lips were moving so fast all I could make out was a low hum. Alice chanced the most fleeting of fleeting looks at me that I was uncertain whether it had actually happened and she was communicating with Jasper again.

"What's going on?" I asked, my voice quavering as they yet again peeked at Edward's door from our position in the living room.

The entire exchange took only 10 seconds. "You need to leave. Now." Alice's voice was hard, indecipherable. Her face struggled to maintain its indifference but her brow began to crease and she opened her mouth but couldn't make herself speak.

"I'll get Shae. We're leaving as soon as-"

"_No!_" My mother's voice shot from the upstairs and she yelled something else indiscernible.

I tried to fight back the tell tale signs of tears, my throat contracted and I tried to swallow through it, my face felt swollen but the tears came too fast. "What are you _doing_ to her?!" I cried, my voice ragged, cracking within my sobs. I tried to run to the stairs but Alice was far too quick. And she took my arms in her tiny hands .

"Come on Claire," Her voice was gentle and soft, "we need to go. Jasper and I will be with you." She let her hold go so that we could move to the door.

The tears were coming so fast that I couldn't breathe. I collapsed to the side but didn't hit the ground for Alice's quick arms caught and steadied me. "No! Not without my mom! Why are you doing this?" I thrashed at my arms at hers and kicked everywhere I could but inflicted more injuries upon myself than on her, she was indestructible. In some other place in the house, someone else was screaming too.

I thought I heard a door open but when I looked up, it was closed as it had been. In the moment that I ceased my fight, Alice wrapped her arms around me, restraining my arms.

Jasper took me from Alice's grasp and picked me up like a small child. One of his arms bent around my legs and forcefully halted my kicking, the other wrapped around my torso, trapping my arms against my body so that the only part of me that I could move was my head. I attempted to break free and failed. Deciding that it was a fruitless effort, I lolled my head back and cried and screamed but nothing compared to the screams echoing down from the upper level of the house.

Shae's eyes were huge with fear and incomprehension, she moved with Alice and Jasper wordlessly, staring after me in horror. We got into a nondescript white SUV. Jasper carried me easily into the back seat where he still held me like a baby, my limbs bound. Shae took shotgun and Alice hopped into the driver's seat. I was surprised at how much better I felt getting into the car. My tears were clearing which in turn made everything a bit clearer too. I glanced at the steering wheel, the Chevrolet emblem sat in the center.

"We give you a choice of _any_ car, aside from British and Italian because Bentleys and Ferraris are a bit expensive for a 16 year old human. But I mean you could have had a nice BMW, or a cute little coupe Mercedes or even a cheap Porsche and you get this thing. I mean if you're going to go American, why not a mustang or a corvette?" Alice looked around scrutinizing the interior, slamming into reverse.

"Ha. There's no satellite radio, that's great." She complained as the car straightened out. "We're in the middle of freaking nowhere and what do they play on the radio in the middle of nowhere, that's right, static. Enjoy." She gave the volume knob a light flick and the noise of my sniffling and sobbing was drowned by the god-awful scratch of static.

"A Tahoe is a perfectly fine car. It's durable and has four-wheel drive. It could bend your little Audi like a paper clip. I bet none of _your_ fancy Italian or German or British cars can all terrain it either."

"Who would all terrain in an Aston-Martin?" Jasper snorted, still holding my wrists but he had allowed me to sit up in the seat next to his. "Besides, there are much cooler all wheel drive cars." Of course he agreed with Alice. "Remember Emmett's Jeep? _That _was a pretty sweet car. Why didn't you go for a land rover?"

"Because the least cool Land Rover was just about the same price as the nicest Tahoe. All that the Land Rover has that the Tahoe doesn't is an expensive label and weird buttons that I would never use in the first place. I _like _my Tahoe." She said with a tone of finality.

Alice turned to her. "You know you sound a bit like Bella." Her cheeks were raised but that was all I could see from the back seat. "Always defending that huge tank of a truck. It did fare surprisingly well in the Tyler Crowley incident though despite the roaring engine and lack of speed. It was older than you and Claire combined, it's a miracle it lasted as long as it did. Probably been turned into staples by now…"

"It's still around. Charlie…gives…" My breathing hitched when I realized that whatever cause the evacuation of Shae and I from the Cullen's house would probably have to be explained to Charlie. It would have to be explained to me. "Please…Please tell me what's happening." Had not realized that I had been crying but the steady drip of moisture onto my tightly crossed arms alerted me to the fact and I wiped at them hastily.

"We're sorry that this had to happen this way. If the circumstances were different, I'm sure you would understand a hundred times more than you do now. You should have heard Bella argue with Edward. It was fair enough for her to want to be with him but he was pigheaded about keeping her happy. But she's happy with him right? And he wouldn't accept that maybe the thing that would make her happier than anything else was to be with him." I think Alice was trying to talk to me but she was evidently having a one-sided conversation for I had no idea what she was talking about.

"Alice" I said as evenly as I could. My head throbbed with the pressure from the tears and the unremitting static crinkling through the car. "Turn that off!" I barked, my nerves on their last end I had, I decided, officially been kidnapped and they were torturing me. "Please." I added, remembering my manners. "You are going to need to clarify what the _hell_ you are talking about."

Alice had pulled the car up to a beach not unlike the one my mom and I had stopped at just the day before. Nighttime was falling now and the water mimicked a black hole, it swallowed all light and all shadows.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I got carried away, you're right I need to explain it all because she is, after all, your mother and you out of anyone deserve to know." She sounded genuinely sorry and I felt my tears and fear subside in a huge wave of calm, which clearly affected the entire car because I saw Shae's shoulders lower and Alice's eyes softened. I remembered Jasper's unique gift and realized that throughout the car ride when I had become too anxious he helped me back to normal.

"Thank you." I whispered. He let go of his living handcuffs with a tiny smile in response.

"So," Alice chirped from the front. She sat on her knees facing the seat so that she could look at me as she spoke. Her face tried hard to remain bright but her eyes were troubled, "Did your mom tell you about her horribly unfortunate first encounter with _other_ vampires?" I nodded, "Ok good so she sort of explained the bite?"

"Vaguely." I responded truthfully, searching for something that she told me other than he had bit her and there was that one cold spot. I hadn't really thought past that because I was still skeptical when she told me.

"Hm. Well, we," she said gesturing toward Jasper and herself, "are built to attract humans. We've explained this to Bella a dozen times." And she went on to mention and explain all of the aspects that make vampires unbeatable. "But just in case something goes wrong. Perhaps another vampire coming across and tries stealing your prey, our teeth," she flashed a quick smile, "have got venom in them that incapacitates whatever it is that we bite. It causes so much pain that the victim cannot move and if unattended to, the venom spreads throughout the body and causes a transformation…and the prey then becomes another predator. Dead among the living." I don't think she was blinking, she just stared at me, her golden eyes mesmerizing. If I had reacted, I didn't realize it.

"You're more like your mother than we thought." Jasper spoke, "Edward always seemed to think we didn't scare her a sufficient amount. She was always so calm when he spoke of things he expected to revolt her."

"I was the opposite of calm and understanding when we first saw Edward and she tried to explain you guys." I smiled sheepishly. It felt wrong considering the situation. "I kind of cracked a million Dracula jokes, if you would call them that- jokes. I really did think that she was absolutely bonkers." Bonkers? I must be sleep deprived or something. I glanced out the window but dark was only on the sky's doorstep and the sun was sneaking out the back, leaving the great inverted bowl above and around us a vacant grey.

"Moving on." Alice was anxious to continue her story, "So she knew this and when James bit her, Edward managed to suck all of the spreading venom out, the puncture was already dead though. That's why it's cold." She said matter-of-factly. "There was a part of Bella that wished Edward hadn't been able to extract the venom or that she would be bit by one of us and she would have been able to be with him for, well, essentially-eternity."

I now understood what Alice had been saying before about my bother being happy and being with Edward and frankly, it made me slightly sick. My mother had wished to end her life for a boy who she had met only months before. "But they hardly knew each other." I squeaked.

"You didn't know them like we did though. We lived with Edward for decades and we had never seen happy like he was with Bella, he was _alive_ again. He laughed and, oh how his laugh was beautiful but it was buried deep inside him until she came and he swallowed it deep again after he left her." She smiled, remembering. "Your mom completed him and he did the same for her. He would have stayed with her no matter what if he didn't think that we were too dangerous for her, he was always thinking of her first. Like I said, she brought him to life, I wish I could remember the last time he laughed like he did when Bella loved him."

"I heard him laugh." I blurted. And I had when he and my mom called from his car and I was giving her a hard time about it. That could not have possibly been today. Silent tears fell and I remembered how shocked she had been but couldn't help but laugh all the same. Her laugh is beautiful, too.

Alice was skeptical at first but I watched as the understanding let itself in. "He was with Bella." She looked at peace. It was not a question. "Like I said before. They are meant to be but Edward fought it, he couldn't bear ruining her life- or that's how he saw it. Maybe if he had just stayed a little longer…" Her voice trailed off, "Well, there's no sense in questioning what could have been.

"Your mom got cut." She said so quietly that I had to lean forward and ask her to repeat it. I knew it was coming, I expected it but nothing compares to it actually coming out of her mouth, which made it so absolutely true.

"You mean he- he…" I had to pause and fight hard against the tears that came with the realization. "He bit her." I said choking back the urge to convulse.

Her eyes narrowed at the accusation but quickly realizing that I had no idea what was going on, she relaxed. "No. It was a complete accident." She struggled to keep her voice calm but looking deep inside my eyes seemed to help. "Apparently they were um," She looked uncomfortable, and her statement came out more like a question. "fooling around? And Edward broke his cardinal rule with her but I really think it was because they hadn't seen each other in years and their emotions got the best of them he uh," She opened her mouth as if trying to show me something because she really didn't want to discuss it but she really just looked like a dieing fish.

"Want some paper?" Shae asked from the passenger seat, she startled me and I jumped, forgetting that she had been there because she hadn't spoken since the beginning of the car ride.

"Please." Alice sounded relieved.

She took the pencil and index card notebook that Shae had pulled out of the glove box with a gracious smile and began scribbling furiously. Within a second, she thrust the notebook back at me.

_He opened his mouth_

I snorted at the obvious statement. "Didn't you say that they were kissing? Isn't that what you _do_?" She looked slightly annoyed and scribbled at the paper again.

_Not with tongue_

"Gross. My mom is old, she doesn't _tongue_ people." I resisted the urge to laugh because I knew that was coming next wasn't the slightest bit funny.

She squirmed. "I really do think their emotions got the better of them. But Bella's-" She swallowed hard trying to block it out.

"Tongue." Shae cut in exasperated. "You two are being total babies."

"Yeah well he isn't your _brother_. You quite understand seeing as at one point you were keen on scoring you some Edward pie." She looked confused at what she had said and I snorted.

All three of us were suddenly laughing so hard that Shae and I had tears streaming down our faces. Alice seemed blissfully human at the moment, realizing just how ridiculous she had sounded. She laughed just as hard, if not harder than Shae and I. Jasper on the other hand was petrified.

"Ladies, please." He tried but gave up after someone breathes the words 'pie' and 'Edward'. Instantly another fit of giggles overtook us. I forgot for the very normal moment about my mom. I forgot that Alice and Jasper were vampires and everything seemed as it should be.

But when the giggles died down after a couple of too-short minutes, the truth gripped me again. Painfully, I forced myself to ask Alice, "My mom?"

"Her tongue," She said seamlessly, "must have slid across Edward's teeth. In the moment they didn't notice, though I honestly don't know how Edward didn't _taste_ it. When they realized, they immediately called for Carlisle." I saw her think briefly before continuing, "When he arrived, the venom had spread too far and if they attempted to remove it, she would lose too much blood and either way, there's no way she could have remained…human."

Being next to Jasper in the back seat allowed me a peripheral view of his actions and I very plainly saw him lock eyes with Alice and I saw her give a sideways jerk of her head as if to silence him.

"So she's…she's a…a vampire?" I asked shakily, ignoring the odd communication between the couple.

"She will be. Soon." Jasper spoke.

"When can I see her?" I asked hopefully. But the looks on all of the occupants of the car, including Shae told me that there was a glitch in my thinking.

"The thing is Claire," Alice reached for my arm in an attempt to comfort me and I allowed it knowing that she would feel better if she thought it was helping, "Your mom mentioned the extremely unfortunate incident with Jasper right?" I nodded, smiling at Jasper. "Well, he had been abstaining for years and it was hard enough for him to resist to just her scent but the sight of blood completely wiped away all of his reserves, it was too irresistible." I unintentionally moved a bit further away from him and instantly felt bad about it.

"It's ok." Jasper murmured, seeing the apology in my eyes.

"He's stronger now though, a lot stronger." Alice came to his defense. "Twenty years did him a lot of good and made him much more tolerant. So did having Shae always around the house. But my point is that after _decades_, he could barely resist. There's just no way that your mom will be strong enough to see you for a _long _time." Remorse was etched on her face and tears burned at my eyes. "I can't imagine your position."

"But she will know it's me." My breathing shortened, "She would _never _hurt me!" I shrieked, tears tracing down the contours of my face. "I'm her daughter, she loves me! Why did this have to happen?" I buried my face in Jasper's neck, his hand went tentatively to the middle of my back and began tracing calming circles into my shirt with his fingers.

"You can write letters." Alice offered lamely. "Or, um, email each other. Send pictures. OH!" I turned my head the opposite way, still resting on jasper's shoulder to see her face. She was beaming in her brilliance. "What about those Web Cameras things with the little microphones? Don't people use those to communicate with people like overseas and stuff? That way, you two could talk and see each other on a regular basis. I guarantee that anytime you want to talk, she wont be busy, despite our label, we lead pretty unexciting lives filled with sitting around."

It was a small comfort, knowing that I could see her again. But it still wasn't the same as the warm squeeze of her hand that she gave me when she knew I was upset, it didn't replace the lavender smell in her hair, or how when she read a book, you could tell she really liked it when her toes would curl and she would bring the words closer to her face as if it put her more into the story. I'd never be with her again at a restaurant when she asked for the desert menu first so that she could check and see if she wanted to save room for something especially tasty after our meal.

I realized with a jolt that she would never, at three in the morning, pull me out of bed and speed through the dead of night to Dairy Queen because she had an overwhelming craving for a Butterfinger Blizzard.

The only craving that she would have would be for blood and after pushing back the nausea of imagining my mother attacking an innocent animal and _biting _it, I found myself wondering what blood tasted like to them. Did it still taste like iron, thick with salt? Shae said that Emmett had choked down a brownie, not enjoying a bite. Maybe blood to them was as tasty as brownies are to humans.

"I know that it is lousy compared to the real thing." I stared at Alice blankly for a moment as she spoke, not realizing that she was still referring to the WebCam. "But imagine never even seeing her face again, never hearing her voice."

At that I burst into another bout of sobs. Jasper's cool neck was comforting because the tears had made my face all hot and puffy. "She loves you, she always will no matter what." He kind of reminded me of the older brother that I had always wanted but never had. He was quiet and cautious but when things were falling apart, he was perfect.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you. I seem to be doing that a lot huh? Well its my fault really I mean you cant contr-"

"Alice!" Shae reprimanded through clenched teeth. "I'm pretty sure she understands. Lets just be quiet a minute."

And we sat there, two of us living, the other two were basically dead and my mom was far off somewhere in between. I focused not on what she was probably doing right now because I couldn't hold myself together but on what she had been doing yesterday, a week ago, a month ago. Well, a day ago, we had been at Charlie's…oh no, how are we ever going to get out of this one with Charlie.

"What about Charlie?" My voice broke but my tears seemed to have run out of supply.

"Oh right." Alice had plainly not thought it all through. "We could do what she did when she stormed off when James was following us except edit out the part where she _actually _storms off."

"How would that work? And where am I going to go?" Shae questioned.

"Well, Claire would drive the truck back and say that Bella had run off, said that she hated Forks and made a mistake by coming back." She grimaced, "No, it's too much like the original." She sighed and fell back into her seat.

"And hard on Charlie. Why don't we- I- just say that she couldn't stop thinking of Edward which would kind of be true. And Shae, you can crash with me at Charlie's if you want." I offered.

"Thank you, what does he do? Like as a job?"

"He's the Police Chief." The thought that police in area's near Vancouver, which included Washington, would be alerted of her disappearance.

Her face scrunched.

"Oh right. That might be a bit of a problem." I concluded.

"We could always rent a room and rotate through." Jasper said more to Alice than me or Shae.

"We cant very well show our faces, everyone in this town knew us." Alice pouted, looking as if she wanted to be defeated so that they didn't have to strategize anymore.

"Well, Claire can. You're 18 right?"

I nodded and before he could speak again, I cut in. "Wouldn't someone tell Charlie that his granddaughter was paying for a room when she had a perfectly good one at his house?"

"We don't necessarily have to find a place in Forks. I'm sure there are a couple of hotels in Port Angeles." Jasper disagreed.

"So I'd be confined to a hotel room? I couldn't go out? That sort of blows." Claire was now looking between Alice and Jasper. They both took a deep, unnecessary breath. It was so strange to think that they didn't actually _have_ to breathe.

"You could go out…at night." Alice smiled hopefully.

"It's better than nothing, I guess." She was speaking to me. "Will you be able to visit?"

"Um, I'll have my mom's truck so sure, if you'll have me." I just wanted to get through however long it took for my mom to…change so that I could talk to her.

"It would probably be best that we find a meeting spot, you ditch the truck no one will steal it, and have on of us drive you." Jasper said editing the important parts like, _why_ that was necessary, out.

"More details." I demanded.

"Well in case someone spots her coming in or sees you two together, we'd rather you had some protection with you." He hesitated at 'protection' as if he were about to say something else but went with the more adult of the two.

"You want to baby-sit us?" I demanded.

"Not baby-sit. Hang out." Alice bounced, smiling a bit excessively to the point where it was a bit creepy.

Shae snorted. "Right. Whatever but if Rose and Emmett come back, I do _not_ want her with me."

"Deal." Jasper got to it quickly so that Alice didn't have time to protest.

"So, I'll go to Charlie's. Tell him Bella couldn't stand it because she couldn't stop thinking about Edward and she bolted. I'll figure something out about wanting to see the rest of Forks and get to know him so that I can stay at his house. You don't suppose one of the stores in Forks has a WebCam?" I felt pretty confident in the plan because it was plausible, at least I thought it was.

"No. Closest place for that kind of stuff is Gig Harbor, right near the bridge." Jasper thought a moment and smiled, "Esme'll drive you. I'm sure she'd love to talk." His eyes sparkled with mischief. "And we'll get you a room at one of the hotels. There has to be one on the boardwalk with the view of the ocean. We don't want you to go all Howard Hughes on us." He said to Shae

"Boardwalk? That means shopping!" Her face lit up after having received the rather less pleasant news that she would be cooped up in a hotel room.

"Only at night." Jasper reminded her.

"So it's set!" Alice was glad to be rid of the task. "We should call Carlisle."

**A/N: Was this chapter too long? I'm delusional with sleep and I think I may have over developed a couple of pointless points but I can never be sure. Next chappie is someone in the Cullen house but I haven't decided who yet. Ok. Love you guys! Review please! LUVS- Bitten**


	16. Waking Up

**A/N: K first, a **_**HUGE**_** thank you to everyone who has reviewed loyally (and not loyally) because we have 125 reviews. That is awesome, u guys rock and i would thank every one of you individually for being so great but u know who u are. Luv u all!!! So anyways I wasn't exactly sure how to 'do' (as in like capture) Edward. I think I'm more comfortable w/ Bella but I hope this is good. It took me a while as you guys know. Sorry for the long paragraphs but I don't know how to break them up. LOVE-Bitten**

Waking Up

**Edward's POV**

I couldn't believe that this had happened or that some part of me, beneath the infuriating hate that I was experiencing toward myself for letting my guard down, was overjoyed at the though that after so long, we could make up for our separation during an eternity.

Her gut wrenching screams brought me back though. Her eyes were clenched, her teeth bared in an attempt to alleviate the pain as she bit through the third leather band we had given her, it was Carlisle's. He used them at the hospital so that family members wouldn't have to endure fingernails and bites from loved ones. I would have taken both without hesitation but we don't scar and large bite marks on the sides of my arms and hands would be alarming to most people.

Her teeth were the first to change and sharpen because the venom had infected her mouth first. I tried not to look straight at her as she went though it because she was in too much pain. I just sat with her until it hurt so much to know that _she_ was hurting that I forced myself to leave her side just long enough to calm down and I was back with her again.

"She's doing as well as would be expected. Nothing out of the ordinary." Carlisle says as I leave Bella's room to breathe the fresh air.

"When's it going to be over? I can't stand it. " I whisper angrily.

"It's been four days. Maybe another hour, maybe another day."

"_Another day?_ I don't think I can take that, I don't think _she _can take that." I was furious. All that I could remember about my change was the absolutely horrible pain. "How long did it take for me?" I ask, my voice a bit more calm.

"Too long. I was inexperienced and didn't know how long the bite should linger to release the right amount of venom. I was also afraid that even though I had trained myself to immunity, I wouldn't be able to resist once I actually bit you. I merely grazed the crook of your elbow so as not to tempt myself. It was too late when I realized that it would be more difficult for you if the venom was in a small amount so it would spread slower but didn't want to risk another bite in case something went wrong." He was interrupted by another crescendo of screaming from behind the door I had just exited which ended in sobs.

I swallowed, "I should get back in there."

We did not have a special room where we took the poor defenseless humans to be changed because we did not change poor defenseless humans. Bella was merely curled in a ball in the middle of Shae's room. Since it was no longer occupied we decided that it was the best place to let her be and Shae would most certainly not be using the room or it's furnishings again.

"It's ok." I whisper when I lay down next to her and slide my hand up and around her neck. She sighs at my cool touch. "I'm here. Don't worry." My other hand moves it's way to her stomach and rests in the center, just above her navel. She half unravels from her ball in response.

After the first two days of sitting beside her helplessly, I decided to tell her the story of us to remind her just what she will wake up to, it seems to soothe her. I have past our first meeting, Tyler Crowley's van, all of the puppy dog boys who asked her to the dance despite the fact that it was girls' choice and am now telling her about the morning when I asked her to accompany me to 'Seattle'.

"You are so adorable when you are angry, I couldn't help but smile which pissed you off even more. I asked you what your plans were for that Saturday, the day of the dance, and I distinctly remember you making a quip about my mental status. A question I fully deserved considering our past encounters and was contemplating myself. What about you, besides the obvious, was so alluring?

"They were the most human feelings. To love your smile, your laugh, and the way you leaned in to a conversation and to know that you wanted me almost as bad as I wanted you was heavenly. I had human urges like to touch your face just to be close to you or hold you in my arms so that we could forget the world. They nearly overwhelmed the scent that drove me crazy, nearly. But I love you Bella, don't forget it."

I didn't know if she could hear my words, or just my voice, or anything at all but when I was done speaking, she unclenched her fists and I could feel the muscles in her stomach loosen under my hand but it only lasted a second before she recognized the pain again.

"_Burns!_" She cried at the pain and screamed as if it were the last thing she had. I tried to calm her with words and use my hands to cool her face and neck but the pain seemed too great. She was becoming so much stronger that she could break away from the grasp of one of my hands.

"Bella, please." I begged when she broke away from me again. Her pain was etched on both of our faces. "Let me help."

"_Hot!_" She screamed, her voice raw. It was a variation of the only thing that she could express, _hot, burning, fire, burns_.

"I know it's going to be over so soon. Just a little longer." I coaxed her back to my hands.

She was in a calm spell and I pulled her into my lap for we were both on the floor. I ripped off my shirt, not bothering to pull it over my head, I could always buy another one. She was still no match for both of my arms and I quickly ripped at the back of her shirt, exposing the skin on her back.

"Hot." She complained, now sobbing dry tears.

"I know." I whispered in her ear as I pulled her back against my bare chest, my arms around the front of her waist so that she couldn't pull away. Her skin burned against mine but she let out a breath and began to calm. "It'll be done soon."

We sat there for hours. She occasionally writhed against the restraint of my arms and each time became harder to resist her ever-strengthening pull. But the struggles became fewer and the temperature of her skin felt no different from mine. When they stopped all together, I sat with her not wanting to disturb the last sleep she would ever experience.

"Too bright." She complained faintly. The noise startled me because I had expected her to move before she spoke. She pulled my arms off of her and turned around, her legs crossed between mine, which were in a 'V' shape. "And you aren't wearing a shirt." She lifted a tired eyebrow.

"Oh. Right." I shot to my feet and was at the door when she caught my wrist, something I also wasn't ready for.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing." She smiled and pulled me back into the room.

If her smile was magical before, it was now beyond explanation. I tuned out her words when her lips moved because the way that they formed words was exquisite. Her long brown hair had been down but she quickly pulled it into a knot at the base of her neck.

"and the next thing I knew, you said you loved me. And then it all went black again…" She continued to speak but I could not get past her beauty. The tiny lines that had barely been present around her eyes and mouth had vanished. She did not appear 18 again because she had the look of a person who had fully grown into herself. She looked only four or five years older than Esme.

"Are you even listening to me?" She eyes me skeptically.

"No, I'm sorry." I admit. "You're just too beautiful."

"Don't you love me for what I have to say too?" She asks in mock hurt.

"Of course but if you could see you right now, you wouldn't be able to look away either." I sweep her off her feet into my arms. Though she is still small and I am able to hold her, she is no longer weightless in my arms.

"This is unnecessary." She complains.

"But so much fun." I counter as I walk through the doorway in Alice and Jasper's bedroom because there is a mirror on the back of the door. "And here you go." I set her down gently next to the door. Emmett and Rose hadn't come back and it appeared that everyone else was gone for the time being.

"I look like Claire." She says slightly surprised, her eyes wide. "I mean, not to be immodest but, I look _young_." She turns to the side and inspects her profile. Her face maintained some of its roundness in her cheeks and perfect full lips but her nose and chin had definitely become more angular.

"You never looked old." I pointed out.

"I never looked thirty-seven but I haven't looked twenty-five in like ten years." She turned so that her back faced the mirror and craned her neck, clearly inspecting her butt. She shifted her jeans and shirt. "Look at my ass. That is a great ass."

"Mm. Yeah." I mumbled and inadvertently, in my admiration of her new self, my eyes lingered at her ass.

"I think my boobs are bigger- Are you checking me out?" She asked smiling.

"You said you had a nice ass, I couldn't just take your word for it." I teased.

"Well, all I can say is I told ya so." She laughed. "Come here. Look at this." She was scrutinizing her face.

"You are perfect. You have _always _been perfect." I gave an answer that should console any uncertainties but moved toward her all the same.

"No, look at this!" She stamped her foot, frustrated, and pointed to a non-existent blemish on her cheek.

"Bells, there's nothing there."

"Look!" She demanded.

I leaned closer and in a quick movement, her lips were where her cheek and they connected with mine. "You're tricky." I accused, speaking into her parted lips.

**A/N: YAY! She is a vampire though it isn't all that apparent yet. Next chappie is her POV from waking up until here and then continued 4 a while and it will be**_** very**_** apparent. Sorry this was short but I wanted 2 update 2day as I promised even tho it's like 11:40 pm. And I feel like there's a good mix of everything but I dunno if the "everything" was too rushed and cramped together. Anyways, next one **_**will **_**be long but it might take a while to write but it might not so I hope it will be up some time this week. My family is visiting this weekend and it will all get crazy so I hope to have a LONG chapter up for you guys before they get here so I'm not all pressed for time. Don't 4get 2 review, I want feedback and suggestions and I want to hear **_**everything**_** that you guys have to say. LOVE!!!- Bitten**


	17. Slate Gray Matter

**A/N: YAY!!! Here's the long chappie, hopefully they will **_**all**_** be like this from here on out, sorry about the short-chapter period, it is over (i hope). And this one is early. I know, crazy. I LOVE this chapter. It is funny and cute and important its good. Or at least I think so. It was also fun to write and you are all so lucky because there were a lot of places that I though of cutting it off but I was having too much fun writing it. :D So I hope you all enjoy. LOVE-Bitten**

Slate Gray Matter

**Bella's POV**

From the moment that I realized that this was the end, I experienced no relief from my pain. My head focused and unfocused and all the while I gave in to the immense, seething heat of the poison that was slowly and painfully ending my life. The pain would usually subside, but by no means disappear, when Edward would come in. I would vaguely wake up and he would have his cool hand wherever it had hurt most but I soon slipped away again.

"…and then you said my name. It was the most startling thing I've…" I heard him say but couldn't begin to comprehend before the fire lapped at the edges of my conciseness and pulled me back down into the dark.

At times the pain would be so unbearable that I couldn't breathe and I truly thought that I was going to die, that I wouldn't make it through the change. I would try to suck in the air but the icy hot sensation would rip through my lungs and tear at my throat, my stomach would seize and my arms wrapped so tightly around my legs, it was as if I were trying to literally squeeze the pain out.

I had no actual thoughts. The only words that ever registered during that hellacious period were anything to do with Fire or burning and Edward if I really attempted to recognize him but the additional brain usage just brought on more pain.

My final relief came when the fire in my back dulled and the coolness began to spread, though it was excruciatingly slow. It took forever and the icy heat was still painfully apparent in my head and arms and legs but when the cold had finally spread to all of my extremities, I experienced the wonderful black of sleep. Somewhere in my subconscious, I was grateful for the absence of the sharp, searing pain but I couldn't be bothered with that because the sleep was just so glorious.

When I finally broke thought the dark barrier and into daytime, I could feel someone behind me, their arms firmly around my waist and I could only assume (and hope) that is was Edward. The moment was so peaceful that I couldn't dare disturb it, I could have been there for hours but then I opened my eyes.

"Too bright." I said instantly as light flooded into my eyes, which had only seen darkness for what seemed like weeks.

I didn't know what I was expecting to see, in terms of my surroundings, but I was startled to find myself in an unrecognizable room. I thought that we might be in some foreign place but a glance out the window with my new eagle-sharp eyes and the unmistakable smell of evergreen trees indicated that we were still in Forks.

I turned myself around to take in the rest of the room and figure out just exactly where I was when I first saw Edward. He looked slightly startled at my sudden conciesness and I was puzzled to find that his shirt was torn open in the front, displaying his perfectly toned torso. "And you're not wearing a shirt." I said, suppressing a smile.

His eyes flashed with comprehension and grew wide, "Oh. Right." He said, his voice alarmingly loud, before bolting for the door, disregarding any human speed. And without realizing it, I was up off of the floor and moving with nearly the same amount of speed. The jolt of it made my eyes cross a bit and I stood unsteadily for a moment with my hand around his wrist.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing." I breathed when i got my bearings and tugged at his arm.

This wasn't my world anymore, or at least it didn't seem that way. Everything sounded as if it were moving right next to me. The water flowing in the river a way behind the Cullens' house sounded as if it were rushing beneath my feet, the birds chirping in the nearest tree could have been sitting on my shoulder for how loud they were.

"This can't be possible." I said, turning to Edward. "It's like someone when through me and cranked up all of my senses. Everything seems so close. I always knew that you had uncanny hearing and could see more clearly and further but I never tried to imagine it, like what it would be like. This is sort of exhilarating. Everything seems new."

I looked up to find him half smiling and in a sort of trance but I have no time to be bothered with that.

"Though I do understand why getting into this…state is so undesirable. That was also another thing that I definitely never imagined, you told me that it was painful and aweful and no sane person would ever submit themself to that numerous times but I was stubborn, I guess. Edward, that was the most horrendous thing that I have ever gone through. I mean, I don't even remember anything really. Just that awful, blazing heat." I shivered as I tried to imagine it.

"You came, sometimes. Or maybe you were there all of the time, I wouldn't know. But it was the only semi-relief that I got. You were telling me things, about us. I would wake up and hear a few words and then the heat, oh god it was awful, it would swallow me again. And it was black for so long Edward, I really didn't think that it would ever go away. I thought I would die but the next thing I knew, you said you loved me. And then it all went black again. Just those three words calmed the pain." I glanced up at him, here I was spilling my most tragic memory to him and he was looking down at me, his eyes were clearly in a different place.

"So then I said to the hot delivery guy, who was far cuter than you, might I add. _Hey. Who needs pizza when we can just do it till you cant see straight?_ And that's how Claire came to be." I made it up off of the top of my head in an attempt to pull him from his trance. He didn't even blink. "Are you even listening to me?" I asked loudly, hoping the volume would break the spell he was under. I squinted my eyes as his came down to earth and looked down at me.

"No, I'm sorry." He smiles apologetically, "You're just too beautiful."

"Don't you love me for what I have to say too?" I ask in a small voice, my smile almost surely peeking through.

"Of course but if you could see you right now, you wouldn't be able to look away either." He replied smugly. Then I realized that I no longer was myself. My mind flashed to Rosalie, Esme and Alice, all three were striking could I really look like that? But I told myself that there was no way that I could ever look like them. My face had lost it's youth since I had known Edward. I didn't look old but I didn't look nineteen either. I could never be _that _beautiful, they must have been pretty when they were human too.

In less than a second he had gathered me into his arms, bridal style. "This is unnecessary." I grumbled but it made no difference and he said something in reply but I chose not to listen, which was _very_ difficult considering the new circumstances. He moved flawlessly down the hallway into a bedroom with a mirror on the door.

Edward was right. I couldn't take my eyes off of myself. I _did_ look younger and absolutely stunning. The teeny laugh lines around my mouth and miniscule folds at the edges of my eyes had completely disappeared. My face had lost some of its roundness and adopted the characteristic angular nose and chin. My skin was flawless and as white as porcelain. Something in my image registered and before I could think, I said, "I look like Claire." Something that feebly resembled the pain I had experienced when Edward left pricked at my chest and I hunched my shoulders momentarily, begging it to leave. But I didn't want to ruin the light mood so I went on to admire my body. "I mean, not to be immodest or anything, but I look _young_."

I turned to the side to inspect various aspects of myself. "You never looked old." Edward sighed.

"I never looked thirty-seven but I haven't looked twenty-five in like ten years." I tried to reason with him. Tired of looking at my side, I turned around to look at how my jeans fit. My butt looked _fantastic_. I moved the waist of my jeans a bit lower and pulled my shirt down past the belt loops. "Look at my ass. That is a great ass." I turned to different angles, sure that it was some sort of illusion but it was all consistent. This couldn't be nearly as bad as Edward had said.

"Hm. Yeah." Edward mumbled distantly.

I turned to my profile again. "I think my boobs are bigger-" _too_. I was about to finish but when I looked at Edward's face, he was completely staring at me. "Are you checking me out?" I asked trying not to smile and failing. I didn't mind, what's that ridiculous saying? If you've got it flaunt it. Not so ridiculous anymore, I thought as I inspected my breasts, definitely bigger.

He didn't miss a beat in answering. "You said you had a nice ass, I couldn't just take your word for it." He smiled his wonderful crooked smile and I couldn't believe how far away from me he was. So I replied quickly and pretended to study my face. I lured him in and fooled him to the very last second. His lips felt different on mine, they were no longer cold and hard. I felt like his equal and I got lost in the fact that we were now free to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.

"You're tricky." He whispered.

"You're lucky." I replied, my previous thoughts still lingering.

He pulled back, confused and I just smiled. "Why?" He asked tentatively.

"Cause I'm not human anymore." I laughed when his eyes flashed with pure want.

"Well, that seems logical enough." He grinned, pulling me greedily toward him.

His arms were strong against my back and it was his full strength. I reveled in the fact that he wasn't holding anything back but in the beginning, he forgot and his hands held my waist and back too lightly and I had to remind him to be more…aggressive or I would have to start punishing him because I wasn't weak anymore.

10 minutes later found Edward on top of me on the floor, his long fingers brushing against the side of my waist. Our shirts, both already conveniently ripped open, were flung haphazardly against the furniture of the room we had entered. My hand, flat against his skin, traced from the waist of his jeans up the muscle of his stomach, toward his strong shoulders and up into his hair.

I thought I heard a thump from down stairs but everything was so new to me and Edward was so close, his lips urging mine further and he didn't seem to notice the noise so I disregarded it as a bird that had hit the window or a deer running into a tree.

His fingers danced from the side of my waist to my back, up to my still-clasped bra. He lingered there hesitantly. "Want to?" He asked and kissed the side of my ear, his lips trailing down to my neck.

I was about to beg him to but I could have sworn I heard a voice and he did too. He climbed off of me and we both looked up at the door. We didn't even have time to reach for something to cover ourselves up before the door swung open and Jasper and Alice walked in, laughing and holding hands. Alice saw us first and Jasper immediately followed, both of their faces froze mid-laugh.

"What the fuck, dude?" Jasper questioned, wide-eyed. "Why are you in here?"

Alice looked utterly confused and slightly angry, "Where's Bella?" She asked shakily, giving me an extremely nasty look. But before we could reply in any way at all, she understood. "Bella? Oh.my.god. BELLA?!" She was bent down, picking me up to give me a hug. Not really seeming to care that I was shirtless and one of the hooks in my bra had come undone.

"Nice." Jasper smiled and nodded at Edward. Edward looked back up at him uneasilyand attempted a smile, still half naked on their bedroom floor.

"Oh, God, I didn't recognize you and I thought Edward was in here screwing around with some slut while you were in there in complete _agony_." She looked relieved but then back tracked. "Not that you're a slut." She added quickly. "I mean you guys love each other, just anyone else that would have been in here would have been a slut. Not that anyone else would have been in here." She grimaced, realizing that she was digging heself deeper. "Well, anyways, we're so glad that you're up. And ehm, your…memory seems to be working fine or you woke up, didn't remember a thing and thought, I'll have me a piece of _that,_ when you saw Edward here." She smiled. "Right. No pie metaphors, I've done that twice this week now, sorry."

I tried my best to smile at them but couldn't be sure if I was accomplishing it. "No. I'm fully aware of who Edward is and where I am and all of that good stuff. I'm glad I'm awake too and that Edward wasn't in here with any, uh, sluts? When I was you know, in there." I was completely embarrassed and sank back to the floor so that I could hide next to Edward. All four of us looked at each other in an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Alice spoke again.

"Well, this was nice. Rose and Emmett are on hotel duty. Oh, that's right, they came back but they aren't in the house but they came back to Forks but right now they're in Port Angeles. So maybe we'll go _do it_ in their room seeing as ours is…otherwise occupied." I couldn't tell if she was serious or joking. Her eyes shifted between Edward and I and Jasper finally grabbed her hand to take her out of the room, glancing back apologetically as they exited.

"Hotel duty?" Edward asked when the door was shut.

"Pie metaphors?" I added.

"Well, that was a nice, um, reunion. So I probably should have mentioned that this is Jasper and Alice's room." He smiled.

"Edward, if you want to hook up in every room in the house, you just need to tell me so things like _that_ don't happen." I joked, rolling on top of him for a change. "But as long as we're here…" My fingers found the seam of his jeans against his skin and rested there.

"How ambitious of you." He said, his lips brushing my shoulder. He traced my collar-bone, kissing the hollow part that it created at the base of my neck. I let out a sigh and followed the line of his jeans until I found the tiny metal button and began to slip it through the button-hole.

"Oh. And guys, if you would please be careful, Jasper and I just had the carpet cleaned, we don't want anything…gross getting on it because that would defeat the purpose of having it cleaned." Alice's voice met my ears, muffled, as if she were standing just on the other side of the door. Edward and I both stopped what we were doing and looked at each other.

"Well, I'm officially turned off." I gave him a quick peck and sat up at his waist.

"Imagine poor Jasper." He chuckled, propping himself up on his elbows.

"What do we do now?" I looked around at the unfamiliar room. It was unnaturally tidy.

"Want to go get stuff to spill on their carpet. You know, motor oil, baby formula, coke." He grinned wickedly.

"Don't you even _think_ about it." Alice's muted voice was sharp.

"Why does she sound so close and why cant we hear them?" I asked but felt stupid within seconds because Jasper's voice was soon clear but not directed at us.

"Alice. Let it go." He was breathless and now that I thought about it, Alice had sounded a bit winded.

"Oh." I tried whispering. "Are they…?"

Edward just nodded and motioned to the door.

"So. They'll be done in a few hours and Alice can get whatever she needs, like measurements or sizes, to get you clothes because you cant really go out yet." He began to walk down the staircase into the living room.

"A few _hours?_" I was truly shocked.

"We don't have much to do and apparently it's an enjoyable pastime." He laced his fingers through mine so lightly that I could hardly even feel them.

"Edward." I said impatiently, giving his hand a squeeze. "It's ok to _really_ hold my hand."

"Sorry. I'm just so used to you being so fragile. I still think that at any moment I could break you. I held your hand like that for almost a year, and you thought it was perfectly normal. I had to watch myself every minute around you because one wrong move..." He trailed off, leaving the rest for my imagination. "I'm going to miss being your guardian but then again I will so enjoy being able to be as close to you as I want." And he squeezed my hand in return.

"And I always felt the safest when I was with you." I looked into his beautiful, mesmerizing eyes. There was no doubt that they were still as enchanting as ever, I couldn't look away.

"But the effort that I went through to keep you feeling that safety was incredible. I fed twice as much as I used to- speaking of which, are you, hm I don't really know how to describe it, are you in any way hungry or thirsty?" He looked unsatisfied with the question, like he hadn't exactly said what he was hoping to.

"No. I'm perfectly content." The idea of drinking blood sort of put me off, I _hated _blood.

"That makes sense, your eyes are still grey. I thought they were getting darker but, I guess it was just the light." He looked up at the ceiling.

"They're what?" I asked incredulously. "My eyes are- were brown." He knew that, of course. Weren't they supposed to be that gorgeous butterscotch that Edward's eyes are.

"Were being the operative word. They will no longer be brown but they won't be any sort of descriptive color until you begin to hunt and engage in the activities of a 'normal'" He laughed bitterly at the word, "vampire. Your eyes wont automatically change color, it takes time."

I had already broke free from his hand as was speeding back upstairs toward Alice and Jasper's room for a look in the mirror. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten to look at my eyes, well, I had looked around them but not my actual eyes.

I was standing in front of the mirror and sure enough my eyes were slate gray. They were stunning though, against my white skin and dark hair, which I had flung into a ponytail.

"Edward?" I asked plainly, he was at my side in seconds.

"Yes?"

"What if I don't want to?" I looked at him through the mirror.

"Want to what?"

"Hunt. I mean I cant die right? So why bother with drinking blood? And you know me, I can't even stand the sight of blood. When Claire would get nose bleeds, Renee would have to spend the night at our house so that she could help in the middle of the night because the one time that I tried to help, I ended up passed out on the bathroom floor and Claire was so young that she called 911." I shouldn't have mentioned Claire, because another shot of pain stabbed at my chest.

"I remember perfectly well that you couldn't stand blood. But that was before now. You may think that when the time comes, you will pass up the opportunity but it is an urge that no one who is new at this will be able to withstand. Just wait." He traced under my eye with one of his thumbs, "Lets go just-to steal an ever growing vampire phrase-be." He smiled and pulled me through Jasper and Alice's door.

We went to his room and laid down on his couch, it was more wonderful and peaceful than I could ever have imagined. When the…noises from Alice and Jasper's room became louder, he clicked a few buttons on his fancy sound system and the room was instantly filled with Debussy- Clair de Lune to be exact.

He picked me up and laid back down so that my head rested in the crook of his neck. "For old time's sake." He whispered.

"You know, this is how Claire got her name. But I was slightly out of it and too weak to write when she was born so, Renee filled out the birth certificate and put an 'e' on the end. I gave Claire the choice on how to spell it because it's her name, you know, and she, against my wishes, stuck with the 'e'. Apparently it looked more normal." I turned my head so that our eyes met. "But regardless, every time I said her name, it reminded me of when we were happy."

"You're happy now right?" He looked painfully back at me.

"Edward, I've wanted this ever since I knew that it was an option. Nothing makes me happier than being with you." I felt a pang of guilt as I said it because Claire was in the front of my thoughts but she was going to be off to college in a month or two anyway. It still didn't ease the pain of knowing that I wouldn't see her for a long, long time-if ever.

Edward clearly saw my guilt and pulled my hair from it's elastic so that he could comb through it with his long fingers. "You know, Alice thought of an excellent alternative. It's nothing compared to actually being with her but-"

"Don't tell…her…I want…" Alice was breathless and her voice was uneven.

"Alice _PLEASE. _Just let…me…finish." Jasper practically shouted. Though I was already getting used to my hyper-hearing, his voice was a shock none-the-less.

"Let…_you_ finish?…What…about me?" She asked, irritated.

I couldn't help but snort. There really were no secrets here.

Edward was laughing too. "I guess she wants to tell you herself. She's very proud of thinking of it all on her own." Clair de Lune ended and La Mer switched on.

We settled back into our happy place but could now hear Alice and Jasper quite clearly through the walls, even if we didn't have the sensitive hearing, they still would have been loud and clear. Edward kept pressing the volume-up button until he was afraid he would blow out the speakers. When we could _still_ hear them, we decided that it was time for a change of scenery.

"I come here sometimes when it gets too noisy. Emmett also recently took up the guitar, why Carlisle and Esme let him I have no idea, he is only allowed to play acoustic but he is still pretty bad and when I need to get out of the house, I come down here." We were sitting on a large rock that jutted into the river near the Cullens' house.

"It's lovely." I said, staring at our rippling reflection.

"This is by far the most scenic home we've ever owned. Places like Denali and England have rather bleak landscapes. Well some parts in England are nice but our house was in the middle of a cold, gray plain. Nothing special." He flicked a small pebble into the stream.

"You lived in England?" I asked, shocked. He had never mentioned it.

"Well there are only so many cloudy places. England definitely qualifies. We lived there during most of the '40s. A somewhat unfortunate time because of World War II and right when that whole fiasco ended, Britain was making agreements with India about freedom and what not, it wasn't a happy time in England." He sighed, "And then we moved back about ten years after we left Forks, only for a year or two, though. It's a good place because we blend in well because everyone there is so pale." I involuntarily raised my now paler hand to my face for inspection.

"Wow. I just never realized. I guess you have been a lot of places, huh. Do you guys go to school wherever you go?" I was fascinated, I had only ever registered them living here and breifly in Alaska.

"It's not 'you guys' anymore, Bella, it's us. We all go together." He looked up at me through his eyelashes and combined with the unnatural effect that his eyes had on me, I would have followed him to the ends of the world and over.

"Ok. So where will _we_ go next?" We couldn't very well stay in Forks, the Cullens would have to go out some time and someone was bound to recognize them.

"That depends on where Carlisle can get a job and if this place is observant enough to notice that he has a family. If they are, we need to enroll in school. I'm not sure about you though, maybe you could enroll as a senior. Or be the moocher sister who just sits at home and watches TV." He laughed. "Doctor Cullen's _other_ daughter. The one no one dares mention. Oh but our last name wouldn't be Cullen, it just gets suspicious after a while, hospitals might start noticing that a 20 something Doctor Cullen has been hired around the country for ten plus years."

I push his arm with my shoulder and stick my tongue out at himin response to the moocher sister crack. "I could get a job or something. At least _I'd_ be making money." I grinned at him.

"Oh. So now it's a competition?" He laughed, "I'd be smarter."

"I'd be more worldly." I replied, proud of my smart answer.

He smiled and said, "Tell you what, you can win as long as I can have you whenever I want...for ever."

"Well, I guess. But that sort of interferes with my plans to marry rich and travel the world at my leisure." He laughed the loudest that I had heard since he'd been back.

"Oh but Bella, have you forgotten? I _am_ rich." The sun peeked out of a cloud and showered its rays upon us. We were both glittering, casting rainbows on each other's clothes. His eyes danced in the light.

"Well then you're the man of my dreams after all." I mused.

"Glad to hear it. Listen." He put his fingers over my lips as I was about to speak. All I could hear was the sound of the water rushing below me and birds singing in trees. No trace of Alice and Jasper was in the air.

"They're done?" I asked Edward. He nodded. "Should we give them time to…" I didn't know what they did. Cuddle? Get dressed?

"No they have been together way too long for any of the mushy, new love stuff." Edward leapt off of the rock and was yards away from me before I realized that he was even gone. I jumped to my feet and did the same.

Still slightly not used to the effects that the speed had on me, I stumbled and Edward caught and steadied me before I even began to fall. "Bella, bella, what will we do with you? Maybe some practice?" He gave me a swift kiss and was gone about 30 yards away. "Want more? You need to catch me first." He smiled evilly opened his arms. I stood stubbornly for a moment but he was so irresistible.

I ran to where he should have been but he had vanished, I wobbled from side to side trying to overcome the dizziness. "Too slow. Over here now." His voice came from behind me, without thinking, I wheeled around and ran toward his figure only to blink and find him gone. I wasn't as woozy that time and quickly turned to see where he had gone.

"No fair." I said to the air, knowing that he could hear me.

"Good. But not quick enough. And hasn't anyone ever told you, life isn't fair?" He whispered in my ear but when I spun around to reply, he was standing a ways back. Before thinking, I flew into a run, which was actually kind of fun when I wasn't stopping. He saw me coming and smiled. And like that, I was chasing him.

I felt absolutely ridiculous chasing him through the trees but at the same time, the running was so exhilarating. He darted behind trunks and under branches I kept pace just fine. I had lost sight of him for a moment as dug into the soft earth to head left where I had last seen him. All of the sudden I saw a flash of white come from behind the trunk of the nearest tree, too quick even for my new super-vision, and my feet were off of the ground. I was petrified for a moment before I glanced down and noticed two white hands at my waist, swinging be back toward their body.

"You're incredibly enticing when you're scared." He said a moment later when he had set me gently on the ground. His hands were still at my hips and they pulled me closer to him. "Can I please have you now?" He asked, his head bent so that his beautiful eyes could look into my sharp gray ones, he was just naturally more beautiful than me, I didn't deserve him but also wouldn't dare let him go.

"You're the one that ran away from me." I pointed out. I was extremely light headed but not because of the run. His lips were so close that if I just twisted a bit, I could reach them.

"That's right but you still said I could have you whenever I want and I want you now." His hands moved up my back and bent me closer to him, his lips finally came to mine and everything in the world disappeared. "You still smell wonderful. There's no one like you Bella." He said into my neck where his lips were moving steadily southward.

I tasted the skin at the base of his neck as well, my mouth moving up as his was going down, My fingers were thoroughly twisted in his hair, urging him on occasionally intercepting one of his kisses because I couldn't bear going without one. I detached my hands from him and pushed at his wonderfully sculpted chest until he stumbled up against a tree. I thought I heard it crack but that didn't matter. He tugged at my bra strap with his teeth while my hands wound back from his chest and pushed at his back in an attempt to bring him even closer. And then I had the most genius idea.

I slip my hands back up to the sides of his neck, my nails lightly scraping at his flawless skin. "Don't stop. Mmm. God, you're amazing." His lips moved against my chest and I continued to rake my hands against his torso. When they reached mid-stomach, I stopped everything I was doing and whispered in his ear, "Want more? You need to catch me first." And without another glance, I ran in the direction of the Cullens' house.

**A/N: K. So I hope that's enough fluff to tide you over for a chapter or 2 cause I need to get some plot work done. I was gonna go farther than that but that was just **_**too**_** good of a way to end it. Ok, I don't know when the next chapter will be up because of family coming into town and yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah but I will write every opportunity I get. I think I will surprise you with the context of next chapter and tell you **_**nothing**_** about it-MUAHAHAHA. Ok what did you think? Questions, comments, concerns, worship?? Jk. But really anything you have to say I wanna hear. LOVE-Bitten**


	18. Morbid Fairy Tale Ending

**A/N: No. This is not the end (and no one dies) but it could be I think I will do a couple more chapters but not many. Im still debating on a sequel but I am leaning toward no sequel cuz theres no way I would finish before school starts and I don't know how frequent or infrequent my updates would be but with the ending I have in mind I might just continue to write for myself and decide to post it a little later if I like where its going. But I hope u like this chapter no plot-again, sorry im kind of bad at staying on track but its cute. Enjoy!! LOVE-Bitten **

Morbid Fairy Tale Ending

**Bella's POV**

I suppose Edward was going easy on me when I was chasing him because he caught up to me right as I exited the thick of the forest beside the house.

Alice was at the door waiting.

"Before you two go off and have your fun, I need to measure and poke and pinch and pull Bella into oblivion because I'm going shopping and have to know _exactly_ what to get her." Her expression struggled to maintain its graveness. "Bella." She opened the door and beckoned me in. Edward lingered behind me as I shot up to the door. A huge smile split her face, "You look amazing!" She whispered.

"Please be quick." Edward murmured behind me as he passed by Alice and headed to his room, leaving Alice and I alone in the kitchen.

"God. You are incredible. Oh, and your hair, and your eyes, oh my god you don't look a second over twenty…three." She was circling me like a predator surveying its prey. "And your butt looks excellent by the way."

"Well, thank you. I still feel sort of old though, I mean look at _you_." She still had the youthful look about her face. "And Edward isn't even technically _legal_." I whispered the last word, horrified at the thought.

She threw her head back and laughed. It was still her high, chiming laugh but unbelievably loud. "I guess that's true but in reality he is over a hundred years old. But he is rather young, even for us." She gestured at the house.

"I couldn't care less though because I'm with him, you know?" I spoke the absolute truth but wanted to put it out there in case he had picked up our conversation.

"You guys have such a morbid fairy tale ending. I mean technically you're both dead, which is the morbid part, but after _everything_ you can be together and you _died_ for him, really. And that is how it was always supposed to be. I don't know if I could even function if Jasper and I were separated for so long, you're really tough." Her eyes were full of undeserved admiration for me. I looked down at my hands.

"Well, I did go get myself knocked up. And my daughter spent her childhood looking after _me_ because I was such a horrible mess. I hope I didn't let her down. I did my very best all of the time and we had fun, never as mother and daughter because of how raw and vulnerable I was but more as best-friends and sisters." I looked up at Alice, her eyes were huge with sympathy and my body shook. I had the feeling where I was about to cry that started in my stomach and pushed its way up but all that was pushed out was a dry sob. "She was my life but I died." I said so quietly that I didn't think Alice had heard it.

"She understands and she _loves_ you. God, it took both Jasper and I to even get her out of here when we realized what was happening. She would find Atlantis for you, you are her life too and she has been assured and saw for herself that you are _so_ happy with Edward." She pulled me into a hug and we stood there for a long moment.

"So, you've seen her? Is she ok? Is my baby ok" I asked, losing all of the composure I had managed to build from her hug. I shook freely in her arms.

"Yes. She is still staying with Charlie and visiting Shae in Port Angeles every two or three days." She gave me a reassuring smile and gave me another quick squeeze and stood back to inspect me more.

"God, I just uprooted everyone, huh?" I sniffed away my non-existent tears out of habit. "Oh! What did you tell Charlie?" I hadn't even considered Charlie in the whole complicated equation.

"He thinks you ran off and joined the circus. Not literally but Claire told him you were too grief-filled to stay here and just ran off." Poor Charlie, he has been taken for a ride with me as his daughter. "He understands the grief part but doesn't understand why you would just take off especially without Claire but he offered the house to her for as long as she wants."

"So speaking of Claire and me, what was this brilliant idea that you had that Edward wasn't allowed to tell me?" I asked remembering the slightly disturbing incident of earlier that day.

Her eyes brightened. "Oh! Well, I wouldn't say brilliant. I mean it's not like holograms or anything so don't get your hopes too far up there." She dove into a story about watching Claire's face and keeping in touch and videos that ended in her thinking of Web Cameras.

"Oh, Alice. That's wonderful, really, I do appreciate how much you thought of it. It's _perfect. _Considering." Thought she was right, it was nothing compared to Claire's chronically freezing fingers gripping mine, turning them purple during the dead of the phoenix summer at a drive through movie that she assured me would be air conditioned. It was silly to believe her but she wanted to go so bad. But it was so wonderful of Alice to think of us.

"Well, anything for you guys, you're family." She reached for my hand and pulled me out into the living room and up the staircase into her bedroom.

"Jeez, where are Carlisle and Esme? Carlisle isn't even working anymore and Esme never leaves. Maybe they're hunting." She would have continued on a tangent if a door hadn't slammed downstairs. "Weird. Maybe Jasper and Edward are off for some bonding. Edward hasn't been…social for a while, Jasper could be jumping at the chance for a new/old friend. We spend _a lot_ of time together and he needs more guy friends." She was sifting through a section hanging separately from the rest of her clothes.

"But you guys get on ok? I mean you don't fight?" I was amazed at how long they had been together. She was pulling at variously colored tops along with the occasional pair of jeans and one or two skirts.

"Well, every couple fights, Bella. But over the years, we've picked up a couple of tips for being together peacefully." She turned and winked, moving onto a small, ornately decorated box sitting on a shelf. Her hands worked quickly sorting through differently jeweled necklaces and bracelets.

"Well, I have years too so I think Edward and I will be ok. What's all this?" I questioned, eyeing the large pile of clothes that had collected in her enormous closet.

She smiled sheepishly and looked up at me through her beautiful, long eyelashes. Were my eyelashes that long, damn why didn't I pay more attention to my eye? "So you know how you were human? Well, I have like unlimited money and you are super fun to shop for and I went a little-"

My eyes narrowed and I had to think a moment before I cut her off. "When did you ever go shopping for me?"

"Well, the thing is you were _aware_ that I was shopping for you. And I was waiting for the perfect time to spring it on you. I was going to give it all to you at your birthday but Edward said no money so _that _sucked and then we left so I never got a chance to give it to you." She laughed at my bewildered expression but also shrank back a step waiting for my reaction.

I wasn't sure whether I should be angry or glad because now I had all this cute stuff to wear even though I had no where to go. "So get anything good?" She squealed in excitement.

"I knew you'd come around! And it's not like I would give these _away_, this is quality stuff and if it ended up on some hobo I would just _die_, I mean though we do have a lot, money is money all the same." She jumped once and began assembling outfits with the many items that she had heaped on the floor, setting the jewelry neatly aside.

As it turned out, I had forgotten to re-adorn my shirt after it had been discarded somewhere in this room so as I reached for the hem of my shirt and found nothing, I quickly looked to Alice. "Have I not been wearing a shirt this entire time?" My eyes were wide and she laughed so hard, her knees buckled and she fell to the floor.

"Its not…you. Emmett…Emmett…" Her words fought against the giggles and lost. Once she regained composure so continued. "When Emmett was young, he and Rosalie were in the early stages of love so that results in a lot of love _making_." I snorted at the term and she rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up. So when they were done Emmett would come out to watch TV, such a guy but since we really don't feel the temperature he didn't um notice that he wasn't wearing clothes." Her nostrils flared in an attempt to block the giggles but she ended up on the floor again.

I could just see Emmett coming out, completely oblivious to the fact of his nakedness and plopping on the couch to watch their ancient black and white TV-since this occurred when he was new.

"So I think Rose still has the sign the she made to hang on their door. It says 'Clothes' in big block letters and has little pictures of clothes and a smiley face with a tongue." She rolled her eyes, "She pulls it out once in a while to make fun of him and the first time he was so stubborn that he stripped right there, in front of everyone."

I laughed, still very aware that my chest was moving with the laughter right in Alice's face, I quieted and crossed my arms over myself.

For the next hour, Alice dressed and undressed me like a rag doll. Almost everything fit perfectly, a few items were off considering that many parts of my body had changed slightly since I was 18. But my _other_ change reverted many of those back to my 18 year old body. Alice measured my legs, my waist, my chest, my butt, my arms and my feet.

"Shoes." She said exasperated and my questioning look.

She slipped all of my fingers through holes on a large card. "Rings." She muttered.

We chatted about insignificant things that had occurred while we were away from each other and laughed like we had never been apart.

We had been speaking about a wedding that they had been invited to, two kids from their senior class were getting married and invited everyone in the class. The girl wanted a big wedding.

"So she comes over, absolutely wasted on champagne I seriously think she downed like three bottles. She couldn't even remember our names and Edward was in every one of her classes. She called us Anward and Elice I'm not ever joking, the girl was out and out drunk." She rolled her eyes, it occurred to me that we could not get drunk because we had no blood for alcohol to flow in.

"Anward. Good name, I think I might use that." We giggled.

"So she spreads her arms across our huge table and slobbers out something about chicken and ice cream. The meal of course was chicken but there was no ice cream so we smiled nervously and laughed hoping she was trying to make some sort of joke but unfortunately she wasn't and she stormed off to get her new husband.

"Oh god. You should have seen his face, he was _mortified_. So she drags him to the table and points a finger at us. He smiles at us as best as he can and goes 'umm. Teague wants to know why you don't like the chicken.' And Teague looks at him and stomps her foot so he clears his throat and goes, 'its special and…died so you can eat it. It would be cruel to let its death go to waste.'" Alice was rolling on the floor gasping out words like _waste_ and _chicken_.

"If you ever have a chance to try chicken blood, _don't_. It is like the vampire equivalent to…bleh, I don't even know. Its more appetizing than human food but not by much." She made a face and laughed again. "I wonder if they're still married. That was like ten years-ish ago, I don't really remember. Weird to think about. We cant go to high school reunions. Too bad."

"I didn't bother. There was no one I wanted to see." I glanced up at her. That wasn't entirely true. The only person/people that I wouldn't have wanted to see were guaranteed not to come.

"So speaking of chicken and high school. I heard Mike Newton was Claire's father." Her eyes glinted and a smirk appeared across her flawless features. "I thought he was sort of annoying."

I hadn't been able to talk to _anyone_ about this. Never since the moment it happened, it was something I regretted almost completely since it was 1) with mike and 2) out of spite and the attempt to un-numb myself but it actually spiraled me downward again. But I could never fully regret it since it had brought me Claire, my personal savior. "He's not a bad kisser." I offered, uneasily.

"Ha! Had you not kissed a boy until Edward? Well, I suppose that would have been strange only being able to go a certain length with Edward." She was still looking at me as if I were absolutely crazy.

"He kissed me first and it was so different than Edward. I was curious and when he didn't stop me, I didn't know what to do so I just kept going…" I didn't know how else to say it.

To my surprise she laughed. "In what world would Mike Newton stop _you _from having sex with him. Does he know about Claire, have they m-"

The excruciatingly loud sound of metal tearing alerted us that someone was in fact home and my stomach dropped. Oh shit.

We both jumped to our feet and flew down the stairs, I hardly felt the steps beneath my feet and I sped ahead of Alice to wrench the door open. I froze.

"Damn." Alice muttered behind me. I wasn't sure if it was because Edward had arrived at a very inconvenient time or if it was because Jasper, despite her hopes, was not with him.

In Edward's left hand was the door to his shiny Mercedes. His face was calm and collected, he could have been holding a sack of groceries in his hand. His arm was hardly strained and he smiled tightly. "Bella, love, how was your…fitting?"

I was speechless as I gaped at the huge metal door of his car, resting easily under his arm.

"I suppose I pulled too hard." He looked unhappily at the door and at the raw wires and twisted metal where it had sat moments before. "Alice, a moment with Bella please." He said in his unnervingly calm voice and Alice glanced between us before quickly retreating to the house.

I walked closer to him and he dropped the door as casually as a human might sling a backpack to the floor. The sound was agonizing. "Sorry." He said quietly as he took in my cringing expression.

"Me too." I mumbled and folded into his chest.

"Why's that?" He asked, pulling my chin up gently with his fingers.

"I didn't tell you." My voice was small as I looked into his infinite, dark gold eyes.

He laughed softly and snaked his arms around me, giving me a slight squeeze and pulling me even closer to him. "Bella, I didn't think you were the Virgin Mary. Sex is inevitable, sex with Mike Newton, however, could have been avoided." I laughed weakly, not yet sure if he was just hiding his anger and I didn't dare look at him yet.

"You're being too nice." I tried miserably. I felt that I had somehow betrayed him. "Get angry."

"I can't. You did nothing wrong Bella. Your taste in men may have been a bit skewed but I was gone. I lied to you and I left you thinking that I didn't love you. You were in no ay bound to me. Though I do think it was a bit spiteful to pick the one person I really despised at that school." He laughed and leaned away so that he could look at me.

"I think you might be crazy." I said, finally looking into his eyes seeing his honestly content expression.

"I think I might be too, I mean who believes in vampires anyway?" He shrugged and kissed me on the forehead.

I had actually been expecting them elsewhere and the normally affectionate, welcome, gesture disappointed me. "What am I like five? Kiss me for real please." I stood on my toes and draped my arms across his shoulders, my hands meeting behind his neck.

It seemed to take an eternity but his lips finally met mine and I smiled as I pushed at him enthusiastically, causing us both to stumble over the door on the ground. I kicked hard at it, irritated and not expecting anything to happen but it lifted a foot from the ground and sailed to a stop about twenty feet from us. I laughed at my strength while Edward began to pull at the bottom of my new tank top.

"Woah there. It's new. No ripping." I spoke, my words moved directly into his mouth and his lips pulled at mine. His hand moved slowly up my bare skin and halted at the wire of my bra. Pressing myself against him, I silently allowed him anything. But his hand traced the outline of my bra and moved past, smiling.

I became annoyed and in a sudden wave of want I decided to try to seduce him I had never tried this before and wasn't sure how to go about it. I began with removing my hands from behind his neck and sliding his shirt over his head. I tossed clung to it like it were my most prized possession but finally let it drop from where I had collected it into one hand at Edward's neck.

I was half walking half being carried because I was barely tall enough to reach up to him so he just held me in his arms. After a brief spell at my neck, his lips returned to mine and pushed at me hungrily. Keeping my seduction plan in mind, I sucked on his lower lip and as lightly as I could, raked my teeth over it until only air was suspended in my mouth.

Edward sighed letting a low moan escape. "Can I have you now, _please?_" Bingo, it worked. Damn, I was good.

I pulled away and looked up at him. "We're on the porch." I giggled admiring what little progress we had made-distance wise.

"Our room then." He smiled at his triumph as I smiled at mine.

We raced to his room and he won, naturally. He had a second to lounge on his couch before I entered and that was where Edward finally became mine, and I was his like we had never been.

It was now well into the darkness of the and as we rested against each other for a moment, he snorted and said. "I bet Newton couldn't have done that."

**A/N: So I was gonna wait until a week after Eclipse came out but I enjoyed this chapter and this has nothing to do with Eclipse anyways so 5 days is definitely enough. Hope you guys liked it. I, again, got nothing w/ plot done but I liked getting her alone w/ Alice. They needed a proper reunion. I think im gonna bring everyone else (Carlisle, Esma, Jasper, Rose and Emmett) back next chapter and have a section w/ Claire and Shae. Ok. Love you all, don't forget to review! LOVE-Bitten**


	19. Blush

**A/N: sorry it's been a while. School just started so im just getting situated there. So ive decided not to continue with any actual heavy plot ideas because in my head, they have worked since about chapter 15 and I haven't felt like beginning them so I think I will jus use them in a different story. Ok this chapter's cute and important, well as important as any of my chapters can be. Lol. Ok this is right after the "I bet Newton couldn't have done that" line. Enjoy!!! LOVE-Bitten**

Blush

**Bell's POV**

I snorted. "Come here." I said and took his face in my hands. I was going to tell him that Mike Newton was nearly the biggest mistake I had ever made and that Mike Newton kissed like a girl and the he would never be the person Edward is. But the light from the moon and the stars outside played across the perfect angles of his face and I lost my train of thought.

"Yes?" He asked, smiling and adding to the effect. I felt a jolt of emptiness and I identified it with my want for him.

"Did I ever out and out tell you how gorgeous you are?" I asked, running my fingers through his coppery hair and curling the long strands around my forefinger.

"No." He smiled. An internal magnet pulled me toward him.

"I, uh, I…should have." I breathed, forgetting that being so close to him often made me dizzy.

"Hmm." He touched his lips lightly to mine. Feeling the need to fill the emptiness, I leaned into the kiss with more eagerness than he expected.

He fell back onto the couch with the force and chuckled. "I'm waiting for the day when _I_ can be the horny teenage boy."

"Well, I am too but until you decide to let him come out, I will have to substitute." I traced the lines of his chiseled stomach hungrily and brought my lips to his. We kissed and touched and laughed but now matter how close I pulled him to me or how hard I pressed myself to him, it wasn't enough. I didn't understand it. It was like I needed too much or it wasn't him I needed at all.

I pulled desperately at his lips, experiencing no relief to the growing emptiness that was starting to feel impossible to fill. A growl of frustration trembled in my throat.

"Woah Bella." Edward looked into my eyes, breathless and smiling. "I don't think I'm what you need." He looked meaningfully at me, doing the thing where he reads my mind even though I'm the only exception to his gift.

"What do you mean?" I wasn't happy that he had deprived me of him and made a quick move, pinning his arms with my hands. He smiled and rolled his eyes but complied nevertheless to my attempts to settle my hunger.

"Bella, this isn't going to help." He whispered as my tongue traced the outline of his lips.

"What do you know?" I asked mildly annoyed that he wasn't making a larger effort to help. "You could contribute a little." I raked my fingernails over his chest. "Please." Something had come over me that made me lose all of by Bella like behaviors, like for instance, restraining myself from digging my fingernails into my boyfriend.

He laughed. "I will but it'll just make you more irritated." And in a quick motion he had flipped us so that he was now over me No matter where his hands went or where his lips chose to wander, I experienced no quench of my thirst. In fact, every movement made my want grow deeper.

"See what I mean?" He chuckled, resting his hand at my waist.

"I think you're broken." I said, trying to mask my aggravation with a joke.

"_I'm_ broken. You're the one who can't be satisfied, _I_ am more than satisfied." He wore a smug look and blinked innocently at my exasperated look.

"Yeah well _you're_ the one who's failing to satisfy me." I mumbled. He just rolled his eyes and reached down to the floor beside the couch where his jeans had been discarded. In a couple of quick movements he was up, jeans zipped and buttoned.

"Not fair." I pouted. Crazy, no-reserves Bella wanted to spring at him but I managed to calm her that time. I stood up, about to beg him to lie back down when I saw the more than amused expression on his face. "What?"

"We're going out so I would suggest covering up a bit more." An understatement. I was wearing virtually nothing. Damn.

I stood exactly where I was, Crazy Bella taking charge, knowing that we could be here as long as I wanted if I didn't have anything on. Where would he want to take me anyway?

"Your choice." He smiled, "But it's not like my family is asleep. Carlisle and Esme are in the living room as we speak."

I made a quick movement for my bra and jeans. A quick scan of the room came up empty for my underwear. I wasn't going to give in to him completely now that he had deprived me of the thing I felt like I wanted more than anything in the world so I decided no on the shirt.

"As you wish." He said without a second glance and glided to the door.

I followed him like a puppy follows a person holding a tasty treat.

Once downstairs, we ran into Carlisle and Esme. I had forgotten that I hadn't seen them since I had woken up and that it would be a big ordeal.

"Bella dear, I doubt Edward would ever remind you since he is a boy, but you've forgotten to put a shirt on." Esme smiled sweetly after our 'Hellos' and 'you look greats;'

"I know." I smiled politely but I was more interested in the fact the want inside me was still growing and becoming more painful.

"Oh." She replied, slightly shocked. "Well, it's your body, you have as much of a right to show it off as Edward does to his." She grimaced at Edward's shirtless torso, I lusted after it.

"Her eyes, Esme." Edward stated blankly.

"Yeah, yeah. They gray, I bet your were gray. That's no reason to pull me off of you and drag me down here where there is _no_ chance that you will feed this giant hunger that getting bigger inside of me." Crazy Bella snapped at him, unable to contain herself.

"Bella, love, they are as black as Rosalie's heart." Esme shot him a look and he smirked.

"Like hell they-" I caught sight of myself in the ancient mirror hanging above their-our couch. "Oh. So I'm…" It most certainly didn't _feel_ like I was thirsty for some innocent animal's blood.

"We all experienced it." Edward smiled smugly because had been, of course, right all along.

"Yeah but its not like I'm all, _I want blood_." I replied, unsure because no matter how hard I had tried to satisfy what ever was happening inside me with Edward, it didn't work.

"You can't want what you've never experienced." Esme pointed out quietly.

I swallowed hard and looked at my face again. My eyes were jet black and wild. So that's why Crazy Bella's here. "Oh." Was all I could manage and even with my new found knowledge, I couldn't help but watch every movement Edward made. It made me crazy.

"So Edward and I are going…hunting?" I asked, excited to be alone with Edward again. I didn't care how much they were right but until it was absolutely 100 true, I couldn't help but want him.

"Only if you don't rape me." Edward murmured, one eyebrow lifting with his cheek as he formed a mocking smile..

"Ha ha." I responded dryly.

"Well, you two should be fine." Carlisle smiled at our banter. "Be good." He added a more fatherly note.

The forest, I noted disappointedly, was hardly any different than at daytime. Maybe less birds chirping but that was about it. And with my new super-vision, I knew that it was dark outside but I could see as clearly as if it were day.

"Why don't you just kiss me and let _me_ decide if it wont help." I complained after he responded to my question of just trying to see if he could help this time.

"Okay but only to prove that I'm right." He swung me up to his level and kissed me full force on the lips, he gently lowered me to the ground still holding me against him. I was glad that he had given in but the thirst pulled at my stomach and I let out a full out growl and pushed Edward away, tromping ahead.

"I shouldn't have done that." He whispered and let it hang there a moment before I cut it down with my words and his fell to the forest floor.

"God. Is it _always _going to be like this? If I'm never going to be able to kiss you and feel like…like I'm the luckiest, happiest person to walk on earth, if your hand in my hair won't ever send me flying again, I give up. I don't want the fucking blood. I would rather _die._" I sat on the forest floor, crossing my arms across my chest to emphasize my point.

"It will be better when you can distinguish the two. Your want for blood, your thirst entirely overpowers your want for me. When you know how satisfying your hunger for blood and your hunger for me are different, you will know how to…appreciate each in its own way."

I looked up at him putting all of my trust into his words, pushing up off of the ground. "You better be right."

"I promise. Just do what I say, for now, please." He laced his fingers through mine. "We're going to come across some sort of animal soon. Deer is more than likely and if you're lucky, maybe some Elk."

"Elk are _huge_. Some are like as tall as me." I tried to imagine myself chasing and disabling an Elk but it wouldn't come. "Do I go for a male or female?" I asked, worried. What if they had families? What if they were _pregnant_? What if it was at the peak of it's life?

"Bella. When you made steak for Charlie, or when you would go out to dinner with Claire, did you think about you're dinner's gender?" His eyes were anxious and sympathetic. "It's a factor you need to discount. Plus, for now, you wont be able to control yourself even if you want to."

We were silent for a while, wandering through the forest seemingly without direction. I wondered if when he hunted with Emmett it was more formal, with an actual trail and hunt or if they just sort of walked around until they happened upon some sort of prey.

"We're getting close. Since we-well I-didn't really pick up on any Elk, we're going to a popular clearing where deer usually nest for the night." He turned to face me. "They are light sleepers. We are usually pretty quiet but where's the fun in that?" He noted the look of fear in my face as I realized what I was about to do. "If we're silent, you can probably get at one at the edge of the clearing without waking the others."

"So, what are the…mechanics?" I had no idea how it was actually supposed to _work. _The thought of blood did not alleviate the feeling of need and emptiness.

"You, my dear, must find that out for yourself. Everyone's different. Okay. Quiet, only a couple hundred yards." I felt Edward's hand leave mine and close firmly around my waist.

We walked further and within minutes, a scent like none I had ever experienced presented itself. It hung in the air, heavy like perfume, growing heavier with every step. And that _smell_. It was gloriously pleasant. A human mind could wander for years and never stumble upon how exactly the smell affected you. How the scent nearly clung to me, forcing itself up my nose and into my mouth. How it was like craving an obscure mixture of food and that mixture suddenly met you with the force of a bulldozer.

My mouth watered but the liquid was bitter, warm inside my mouth. It wasn't saliva at all, it was venom. The venom that connected me to every person of my family, every person on this world like us.

The scent, so tangible I could almost taste it, pulled me forward and I began to break into a run but Edward's strong arm pulled me back.

"Wait. Careful. No. Noise." His words were just air in my ear and I barely comprehended before I was struggling against his arms again.

He was now using his other hand to hold my wrist. He pulled me into a huge, swallowing hug, really a large, full-body restraint. His arms trapped mine to my sides. One of his hands held my head into his chest so as to muffle my snarls and curses. "You need this Bella but rushing in there will send them into a frenzy. Quiet and careful and you will feel full like you never have before." He spoke into my hair but I barely noticed.

Who gave a damn _how_ I got it as long as I got it, right? He just needed to let me go. "You will do whatever you want now. You are going to free in seconds but I felt like I should warn you, there is no struggle if you are quiet and careful." He took my face in his hands and kissed long and deep before completely letting me go.

I made a beeline for the center of the smell and I thought I heard him chuckle. I was so close, I didn't think it was possible for the scent to be any more wonderful. I slowed to hear the uneven thumps of five or ten mammal heartbeats. A phenomenon that I was so baffled by that I stopped for a moment to listen but I breathed in and caught a new wave of the scent.

I rushed quietly into the clearing where the animals slept peacefully and didn't think before I lunged silently at the closest adult. Male, female, mother, father, brother, sister? I didn't even consider it. I felt my razor sharp teeth breath through the tough skin and the venom flowed freely into the open cut.

The animal startled at my attack and I looked straight up into its large eyes. Before I knew what I was doing, I lifted my head away from the delicious warmth of the blood and I reached my hand out to touch between the animal's anxious eyes. We looked at each other for less than a moment, the deer completely calmed at my touch and every part of me aching to drink at the wound.

The deer closed its eyes and laid its head on the ground at the same time I put my lips to the gash in the meaty portion of the deer's back leg. The warm, thick liquid filled me quickly and I kept drinking past my point of satiation. I felt free and light, like a huge weight had been lifted from me.

I drank until blood stopped coming. I stood up and examined the deer. It looked, despite what I had done to it, as if it had died in peace. I trailed my hand once more from between its eyes all of the way back to its tiny tail. Remembering the rest of the deer, I quickly turned to proceed into the forest to find Edward.

He was standing just at the tree line with the most peculiar expression on his face. He was proud and utterly bewildered.

"That was the most incredible thing I've ever seen." He whispered as we ran back to the house. The new blood making me feel like I had not a care in the world.

"Why's that?" I smiled up at him.

"The deer. It was terrified, it knew you were an enemy but you looked at it an it completely gave in." He shook his head in wonder.

"That, I think is the strangest thing I've ever done. I mean I wanted that blood _so_ bad but my arm was all of the sudden moving toward its face and, yeah, it just laid down and _let_ me kill it." I assumed that this had not happened to all of them. "Do you think it was brain damaged or something?"

"I can almost guarantee that it wasn't brain damaged. But I want to be with you next time you hunt." He seemed intrigued and to be honest, I didn't see why but his interests were his interests and I could do nothing about them.He pulled me close to him and I locked my fingers behind his neck.

"You've got some…uh…" He motioned at his lip and dramatically rolled his eyes as I casually ran my hand over my mouth. "Let me." He bent down and kissed me square on the mouth, his tongue licking at the remnants of my first meal which had made a film of on my lips. The kiss made me light headed and I fell into him when he pulled away.

"You were right." I wobble up and smiled. "Its definitely different." I motioned to the house that I had barely noticed before now, "Inside?"

"Rose and Emmett are home. I don't know if you…" He looked at the house unsurely.

"No! I want to say hi!" I couldn't wait to see Emmett. Rosalie, eh. But I missed Emmett.

"But-"

"Please Edward. It will be fine." I grabbed his wrist, pulling him to the back door. He had a familiar amused expression on his face but I took no notice.

"Emmett!" I yelled as soon as we were in the door though there was no need.

He was of course in the living room, watching TV. He bounded into the kitchen with an incredibly goofy grin on his face, Rosalie a couple of steps behind him. She was less than amused.

"Bella!" He pulled me into a huge hug, and I thought he was crushing _before_.

"Emmett…please…you're going to…break me." I choked and his laugh boomed thought the house. He set me down and surveyed me.

"Damn Bella. Looking hot." He chuckled at my bra and exposed cleavage and stomach.

"Oh." I felt a familiar but forgotten heat rise to my cheeks. "No way." I muttered and felt at my face.

Emmett couldn't contain himself and fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. "She…She…blushed!" He gasped.

Edward was in my face, looking more amused and happy than he had in hours. "Bella, I think this is one of the happiest days of my life." His face was glowing and I rolled my eyes.

Rosalie had even cracked a smile as she leaned against the doorframe.

Alice and Jasper crashed though the hall and arrived with plenty of time to let me blush _again_ now that they were all seeing my gorgeous new body accompanied with my unbelievably embarrassing trademark blush.

I spun around looking at each of their faces. Where were Carlisle and Esme? "Hey guys. I blush now, apparently." I motioned at my face and they all laughed at my failing attempt at offhandedness.

When everyone had quieted, Alice piped up. "How was hunting?" Her eyes gleamed. "I heard you wanted sex. So unfair, I wanted a friend."

"I wanted to fight." Jasper said.

"Sleep." Emmett laughed, sheepishly.

"Music." Edward shrugged.

"To be looked at." Rosalie looked obligated to answer.

"I didn't really want _sex_." I said embarrassed that it had been perceived that way. "I just wanted Edward."

"Well, Edward's right there and when that wasn't enough, didn't you have sex?" Emmett reasoned.

I rolled my eyes. "He wouldn't let me." I grumbled and the whole room shook with laughter and words like cruel and prude bounced among the hysterics.

"Well Carlisle and Esme are on hotel duty but I think Carlisle tell you that he wanted to die." Jasper added, not wanting to forget their parents. "He wasn't too happy at first."

"Well, I guess Esme sort of did too. But she wanted children and a family more." Alice chimed.

"That makes sex look pretty lame and petty Bella." Emmett nudged me and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Please Emmett, you wanted to _sleep_." Rosalie laughed, It occurred to me that she had never really spoken all that much around me. Her voice wasn't as girly as I had expected it to be but was nevertheless, seductive and perfect. "And _nothing_ is more vain than wanting to be looked at." She shook her head at herself.

We all stared at her in amazement. She had actually made a light hearted remark, making fun of herself, in my defense, in a large group-with witnesses, and she smiled.

She cooled at once as our disbelief registered. "Come on guys," the mood had just shifted dramatically and she was now half-pleading, "I'm trying to make things right."

"Cool. Wanna know who Claire's dad is?" Alice smiled wickedly.

Rosalie's eyes glittered and Emmett snapped his head toward Alice. "Someone from Forks?" He asked, wearing Alice's smile.

"Yep." Alice stuck her tongue out at me before I even began to protest.

Rosalie smile and nodded once. "There's no way in hell I'm saying it again. It's too painful." I refused and looked back at Edward, kissing him quickly on the lips. I turned back to watch Rosalie and Emmett's reactions but Edward caught my chin in his hand. He locked my lips in his and pulled me toward him, slipping his hands into my back pockets.

"Mike. Newton" I heard Alice's shrill voice even higher than normal. There was no verbal response from either Emmett or Rosalie.

"The blush makes you so damn cute." Edward said and pulled me up on the counter. His hand made almost straight for my bra, his fingers lightly slipping under the wire.

I giggled and pulled his hand away. "There are people here. With us. Who I am unwilling to _expose_ myself to."

"Doesn't matter." He said quickly his hand breaking free from mine. "The blush doesn't last long enough."

I swatted his hand away from my bra but I couldn't help but smile. Of course, _now _he was being the horny teenage boy.

It seemed as if he had read my thoughts again because seconds later, he leaned away from me and smiled. "It's my turn." He shifted my weight from the counter to his arms, my legs reminiscently around his waist.

"So you did Newton?" Emmett's voice was hardly containing his amusement. I could just imagine his face.

"You know, sometimes I really hate him." Edward gave me a final, long, love filled kiss and set me down to explain.

**A/N: ok so if you were wondering who Edward meant when he said, 'you know, sometimes I really hate him.' That is up to you to decide, it can be Mike or Emmett, I intended for it to be Emmett but it works very well for both. So, YAY! Bella went hunting and no, she doesn't have the power to calm by touch or looking at things. And she and Edward kissed, surprise, surprise. Ok only 2 or 3 chappies left. Review? LOVE-Bitten**


	20. Europe

**A/N:** **Ok, so I know that everyone is going to like boycott reading this chapter because it took me so flippin long to write it but it's cute…and important. I know, an actual substantial chapter, what's wrong with me? And there is a time difference between Claire and Bella's POVs. Claire's like starts when Bella and Edward (in Forks) are making out on Alice and Japer's bedroom floor and ends when Bella and Edward come back from the stream **_**not**_** after Bella goes hunting. That's why Emmett and Rosalie are still with her and Shae. Ok, Enjoy! LOVE-Bitten**

Europe

**Bella's POV**

I came to find quickly that there was not much to do in a town where we weren't allowed to be seen.

It was the middle of the night after Rosalie and Emmett had come back from "hotel duty" which I found out is just them babysitting Shae and Claire. The mention of my daughter reminded me of Alice's enthusiasm about the webcam.

"So when can I see her?"

"Bella, we already told you-" Alice looked confused.

"No. I know I cant _see_ her but with the whole computer camera set up." I couldn't believe that it had only been a week since I had seen her. I half expected to turn on the computer and see her caring for a family, that's how long it felt like we had been apart.

"Oh, Esme is taking Claire to Gig Harbor to get the cameras. Carlisle is staying with Shae." Rosalie said flipping the TV to the infomercial station.

"When are they leaving again?" Emmett asked eyes on the TV that was displaying a commercial for an all in one home gym. "How much would it suck to actually have to build your strength?" Who's leaving? Emmett should be medicated for ADD.

"Oh, right." Edward muttered.

I turned to face him, _what?_

"Not the ridiculous home gym. So, promise not to get too mad?" I nodded hastily, still not knowing what he was talking about.

"Shae and Claire are going on a sort of elongated vacation." He stroked my hair and took a deep breath. "To Europe."

"Ok. For how long?" I spoke evenly though the thought of Claire traveling overseas without me was not a good one.

Edward cleared his throat, "Indefinitely."

**Claire's POV **

Tourist towns suck at night. Shopping, we realized quickly, could not be achieved at night time. For one thing, it was cold, another was that all of those cute little stores closed at the same time. 8:00 pm. The sun is still shining here at 8:00 so there is no possible way that we would be allowed out.

"They could at least respect the one teensy request I had." Shae complained glaring at the door to the small kitchen/living room in her hotel room. We were in the bedroom portion, chatting idly, playing cards and beating every level on the hotel's PS2.

When I told Charlie about Iz, he was devastated. I could barely keep myself from crying as I fed him the lie. He said that he should have known that she would have been upset and met us somewhere else. He also said to give her time, that she would surface. I knew better, but tried to smile and nodded.

He took me to the station, which was expectedly boring but also a good time for one on one with Charlie. He was generally quiet but we talked about high school and college, Forks, Phoenix, and friends. We both tried and failed to avoid the topic of my mom. Talk of the two placed that meant everything to her inevitably dragged the mention of her into our conversation.

Three days after going to the Cullens', I told Charlie that I had a friend who was visiting her cousins in Port Townsend and they had invited me to stay with them for a week or two. Charlie nodded in agreement and told me to be safe and have fun. I'd been staying in Shae's hotel room since.

The Cullen siblings and Esme and Carlisle watched after us in pairs and 24 hour shifts. I'd been here for a couple of days and Rosalie and Emmett were on now on their shift and Shae was less than pleased.

"I don't care if they don't _talk _to us. She's still here isn't she? And that was the one thing that I asked for there not to be." She said, angrily smashing at the triangle button on her controller.

"At least Emmett's pretty cool." I offered, not wanting to take sides because the Cullens were now essentially my family too. "I bet Rosalie just gets more easily frustrated."

"Maybe but…I don't know I guess I'm just being spoiled. Sorry." She smiled sheepishly and clicked off the TV because her car crashed and burned making it a game over.

"Its cool. I'm just trying to stay neutral here because of my mom. Also, so far as I know the Cullens are really nice and they welcomed me, and you actually, warmly and pleasantly. So I really have no reason to be mad." I shrugged and turned toward the door as the handle creaked.

Emmett walked in hesitantly and bit his lip. "So uh, Alice called." My stomach felt like I was being flipped around by a giant roller-coaster. "Your mom's up."

His face was blurring at the edges and I gripped the armrests on my chair to make sure I wouldn't float away. "She's…uh…okay? Did she say anything?"

"Well, apparently she was otherwise engaged when Alice and Jasper got home." He gritted his teeth and half-smiled.

"But she's…okay?" It was all I could think of, I couldn't force myself to say anything else.

"Yes. Of course." He shut the door gently and came to sit on the tiny bed.

"But she isn't my mom anymore."

"She is still your mom." He said slowly, thinking carefully about each word, "On the inside. She might look more like your sister now though." People _already_ mistook us for sisters because she was so young when she had me.

I didn't reply or try to make other conversation but Shae who was clearly becoming uncomfortable began to ask questions to fill the noisy silence.

"So is this like a permanent arrangement? Because traveling and living with you all was good but I know that none of us want to live like this for much longer. I'm so grateful that you guys actually put up with me but I think I'll be fine on my own from here on out." She looked around the shabby room and crinkled her nose.

"We have discussed it but there is no way we are just turning you loose and completely forgetting about you. Has your dad's…uh…business gone international?" Emmett looked awkward trying to find a word to describe Shae's dad's industry.

"Well if he started in Canada and we're still hiding in the US, I would say yes." She replied sarcastically.

"I mean like way international…like Europe?" Emmett ignored the snide remark.

"Nope. Mom hated Europe, said it was for floozies and scholars. She was neither, too bad because I, like a typical middle school and high school girl, would have loved to have her take me." She walked over to the TV and pushed the power button, she picked up a controller and cars stared racing across the screen. I think talking about her family made her incredibly uncomfortable.

"Still want to go?" He smiled as the controller fell, mid race, through her fingers.

"Europe? Like France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy? Europe?" Her eyes grew wider with excitement with the name of each country.

"Yeah, I guess. Unless you wanted to go to Eastern Europe like Bulgaria, Croatia and The Czech Republic. I hear Prague is actually quite nice."

"How long?"

"How ever long you need us, we will pay. You can start a new life there and never come back if you like." He turned to me, "Claire, we know that you have school and-"

"Oh, I'm not going to school…at least for now." I decided that a break from the stress would equalize the anxiety of being without my mom.

"Your mom wont be so happy about that."

"Well, I'm not so happy I'm never going to see her again either so she's kind of out of luck." I didn't mean to be rude to Emmett and I think he understood.

"That isn't for sure. You aren't going to be able to see her for a long time. But much later in life, you might get a chance." He sounded slightly defeated, "But since school is out, would you like to accompany Shae?"

"Don't have the money." I replied bleakly.

At that, Emmett actually laughed out loud. "Do you really think we would expect you to pay for yourself."

"I'm definitely not letting complete strangers give me an all expenses paid trip to Europe for god knows how long." Though they do owe me for taking my mom from me.

"Claire, tell me, how old do you think Carlisle is?" This, I knew was a trick question.

"Twenty-four."

Emmett snorted, "His _actual_ age."

"A hundred fifty."

"Double that and add a few more." He had a smug look on his face.

"And…"

"Carlisle trained himself as a surgeon. Now, surgeons get _paid_. Imagine how much money a surgeon would earn if he was a good surgeon and he practiced, flawlessly, for two-hundred years."

"A lot." I mumbled but he just couldn't stop himself.

"And say that surgeon has a daughter. And this daughter is _really_ special. She can see the future, if you asked an investment banker what super power he could have, what would he say?" He didn't wait for me to answer. "Ability to see the future. Why? Stock and realty trends. So the daughter of this surgeon who is already loaded invests some of his money in a couple of stocks that she sees will sky rocket." He smiles. "Doctor just doubled his cash."

"Ok, I get it but Europe is still incredibly expensive." I knew was losing this argument and Emmett knew it too.

"Oh, another thing. They don't die. They will live essentially forever. So even if Doctor went and spent all of his multi millions on a big fancy island that he stocked with awesome animals to hunt, which Carlisle refuses to do by the way but how awesome would that be, he would have an eternity to make his millions back."

"I don't even know you! I cant make you guys pay for this big migration to London or where ever the hell we're going. Don't get me wrong, I love that you offered and in no way am I trying to be rude but I cant do that. Thank you though." I smiled apologetically but he just grinned again, god nothing could phase him.

"Fixed. One word. Bella or mom. Which ever you prefer." He noted my face, a lost expression held firm. "We're family." Right. I knew that too. "Your mom's crazy about my brother who is really more your age than hers but I bet she's looking _fine_ now."

"Ok. But promise one thing?" I laughed inside my head.

"You got it."

"Please, _please_ never refer to any sort of person as 'fine' again."

"He bought the _Get Gangsta_ video off of an infomercial we were watching a couple of months ago!" Rosalie yelled from the other room. Oh, I had forgotten she was even still here.

He smiled and nodded his head, "You know how I said 'surgeons get _paid_'? Yep. That was also on there."

I let myself laugh and Shae roller her eyes. "That was like right when I met them. You have no idea how funny it was when he used it all the time."

"I can only imagine." I giggled.

"But seriously, you'll go? Because Shae cant sign legal documents until November and I know neither of you want to be stuck here for five months." All three of us surveyed the shabby curtains and polyester bedspread.

"I think London would be fun."

"Yeah, Paris get ready, cause we're coming."

"Oh and we could go to Milan!"

I could just imagine the fashion capitols of the world in comparison to this tiny hotel room, which was clearly stuck in the late 70s. There may even still be asbestos in the ceiling.

"But we wont let you pay forever. Just until we are stabilized and can find jobs." I reasoned.

"Well, Alice just wont allow that, whether you like it or not, she probably wont be able to resist sending a little extra cash." Emmett shrugged.

I pretended to think for a moment, "Extra cash is welcome."

Emmett's phone rang and he muttered something. "I should have known."

A rapid voice blurred on the other end of the line.

"Alice." She whispered. "It might be a while." But before she finished the sentence, Emmett clicked his phone shut. It looked hilarious in his massive hand.

"She had to go. Edward and Bella were back." I was still not used to he being _Bella_. "Carlisle and Esme should be here soon. It's almost dark."

And then the coolest thing ever happened. I looked over and Shae and she nodded her head. We both leaped at Emmett, hardly jarring him but with our arms still wrapped around him thanked him a thousand times over and over. He laughed and picked us each up in one of his thick arms, hugging us simultaneously.

**Bella's POV**

I was _NOT_ thrilled about Claire's quitting school but I resigned quickly because I realized that there was nothing I could do about it. She was a legal adult and I wasn't about to have my family kidnap her.

"And she'll be safe?" It was the thousandth time I asked and this time, it was in the middle of a heated monopoly game. The sun was just beginning to rise outside.

Emmett gave me mocking evil eyes and growled playfully. "If you ask again I'm going to have to tickle you."

"Are you joking?" He sounded pretty serious.

"No and I am king tickler so don't mess." We all laughed at him and turned back to the game.

"She will be fine Bella. Plus they're planning on going to London first so we know people. Admittedly, they aren't the kinds of people you want looking after two teenage humans but if they were to be in any sort of danger. Which they wont be, I promise. But if the more than unlikely event occurred where they were in danger, we have made acquaintances that could interfere." Edward smiled and kissed my cheek.

"Don't tell any vampires my daughter is there. They'll get curious." I got defensive but felt ridiculous and frankly, a little sick, that if a human were near right now, it would take Emmett, Edward, and Jasper's strengths combined to keep me from attacking.

"Only if they are in danger and they. wont. be." The words had the staccato of finality and I let it drop feeling moderately better.

&&&

"_Two DAYS?_" I couldn't believe I had forgotten to ask when they were leaving. "It takes Claire two days to decide on what she will pack, let alone commence the actual packing."

"Well, there is not really any decision. She will take all of her possessions, everything she has with her, nothing more, nothing less." Edward was running his fingers over the categorized CDs in his room.

"But she has Forks, Washington clothes, not London clothes. They will think she's crazy." I was still trying to find ways to indirectly prevent her from leaving.

"Alice is sending too much cash, a shopping list, a list of her favorite stores and a map. She has the city memorized." He pulled a CD out of one of the shelves and moved to his stereo system.

"How much cash?"

"Enough for it to be illegal if it weren't split into both of their suit cases. And a couple hundred bucks in each of their wallets." I gasped. "They will have a permanent account soon but until we can get the money wired and their signatures on bank stuff, they have to rely on the cash."

"Claire has never lived like that." I paused, "_I've_ never lived like that."

"Your both about to start." A heavy bass pulsed through his speakers.

"Is this the White Stripes?" I hadn't heard this song in years. "No one quite like them. They were something special."

Edward came and sat next to me on the couch. I leaned into him, closing my eyes and let the music throb through me. I could sense Edward's hands moving but his body was still. He brought my hand up and I felt his lips on my palm.

I opened my eyes to find something clasped around my wrist.

"What's this?" I asked, smiling.

"Look." He whispered. I brought my wrist up to my eyes. The bracelet was formed by medium sized chains, they were made of a light metal like platinum or white gold, not silver. I turned my wrist slowly and saw, hanging on the loop closest to the clasp, a tiny white lamb.

If I could have cried, I would have. "I…thank you." I whispered and turned my head and let my lips touch his lightly.

"You're welcome." He wrapped his strong arms tighter around me.

I rested my head in the curve of his neck and closed my eyes again. "I love you." My voice broke, I couldn't believe a bracelet got me so worked up.

His voice was smooth, perfect and if it's possible, I could actually _hear_ love. "I love you too."

**A/N: AWWWWWW! I cant help but put fluff, it's just how I roll. But really, how cute was that. Ok, so I'm thinking either next chapter or the one after it will be the last one. Most likely wont be more than two more. Except for if I decide to do an epilogue (which will only be one more chapter) and not do a sequel. Still deciding. Ok, feed back por favor (is that how you say it? I take French. Lol) LOVE-Bitten**


	21. Just A Day in the Life

A/N:

Ok for those of you EXTREMELY loyal followers who have waited patiently. Let's see how much you remember. Bella and Claire visit Forks. Mike is Claire's daddy (though he's not a huge part of the story and there's a hilarious little bit where he flirts with her). Bella and Claire find Edward. They meet the newest member of the Cullen family…a human named Shane, Shae for short. Edward and Bella go too far after being reunited after 20 years of being apart and Bella gets cut. She becomes a vampire and Claire and Shae are forced to leave the house forever. The Cullens decide to send the two girls to Europe so that Shae will escape the looming shadow of her father whom she ran away from to live with the Cullens.So that's pretty much where we left off. And that's the EXTREMELY short version hopefully you have filled in some gaps with memories in the back of your brain.

**A/N: Yes. Its true. It's finally here. The long awaited (by some) missing chapter. Unfortunately, it isn't action packed or fun filled, its basically a bunch of stuff I needed to get out of the way. But the next couple of chapters will come somewhat fast and furious. I will be MIA until about Sunday (I'm going where no internet has gone before) but just wait, the next couple are going to be AMAZINGGGG!! Enjoy!**

Just a Day in the Life

**Bella's POV**

"So now that you're shipping my daughter off to a continent that she has never been to, where are _we_ going to go?" I still wasn't all for sending two teenage girls off to a foreign country, by themselves, with bags full of money but what can I do?

"Really Bella, it's not like they're _boys_. If they were, that would be a whole different issue with the whole hiring European whores thing and I doubt Shae and Claire are into stuff like that." Rosalie, as it turns out, was an infomercial addict and even as she spoke to me, her eyes were glued to the ad for a magical fruit juicer or something equally ridiculous.

"But there are still things that they could get into trouble with like…sex and drug." I couldn't exactly see Claire doing any such thing but I hadn't really even met Shae so who knows about her.

"Or maybe rock and roll will corrupt them. Be serious Bella, you can't actually think they would do stuff like that. If either of them had any inclination to get into anything like that they would have done so already. At Claire's age especially, she has chosen what she wants and it's clear it isn't drugs." Alice was being unbearably reasonable and I was much more frustrated than I should have been but I was thirsty again.

Edward and Jasper had left an hour or so before to go off and baby-sit Claire and Shae. Edward had been more than reluctant to leave me just now. But though he is strong, the strength of four vampires cramming him into the passenger seat of Jasper's little Audi was far greater. They told him that he, though he had only briefly met Claire, should say good-bye to the girls before they left.

"She still _could_ choose drugs. They're always an option." I refused to back down though my argument was weak and failing, everyone knew it too.

"Not for us Bells, I scored pot off this hustler in England. It didn't do _anything_." Emmett shook his head in disappointment.

"Emmett what did I say about talking like that. You really have to stop." Rosalie tore herself away from the TV to give Emmett a pleading look.

"Stop what?"

"The _scored pot off this hustler_ business. You sound absolutely absurd." Rosalie said, further annoyed at his incomprehension.

"Sorry Rose, I'll try to tone it down even more. But I mean it's like you're trying to _completely_ eliminate my cool, and that's not cool." He shot me a fleeting, amused look and turned back to Rosalie to play innocent.

"I would like my husband back, _please_." Rosalie said. She leaned into him and kissed his cheek quickly.

"Ok. So back to me and my daughter's impending trip away to Europe, please. Frankly, this whole…thing," I waved my hands at them, "makes me sick."

Alice popped up cheerily and danced over to my chair. "You know what, your eyes are really dark. We're going hunting because you are incredibly cranky and _I_ don't like it." She yanked on my arm and I was out of my seat.

"I wont complain, you guys want to come?" The idea of hunting put me in a slightly better mood.

"With…_you?_" Emmett cringed.

"Fine. Don't come." Alice said coolly, "Besides, we'll have more fun without you guys." She twirled around on her toe and skipped out, leaving me stumbling to catch up.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"Hmm. Not far this time. Sorry about that, we should take you up into the mountains away from _deer_. There are far better choices in the mountains." She stopped in mid-step, "So I haven't exactly done this with you yet, but I promise I'm more fun than Edward."

"Well, I guess that's probably true. I mean the entire I was with Edward and all I wanted to do was jump him, and no offence but I don't think I'd want to jump you." I shrugged apologetically. "Its creepy to think about hunting in the daylight."

"That's a bit counterintuitive, don't you think?" She giggled.

"Well, not creepy, just weird?"

"Well, not for me. But then again I've hunted in rain, wind, sleet, snow, hail, mountains, plains, light and dark so nothing is really new. Although Jasper and I, like five years ago we went to the Alps and hiked back into some of the caves and down in some pretty deep crevices. It was fascinating, food was good too." She flashed me a smile that shone brightly even in the moonlight and continued into the forest.

**Claire's POV**

Esme and Carlisle arrived shortly after Shae and I found out that we were leaving.

Rain beat against the windows of our hotel room and the clouds from which the drops fell blocked all sunlight, so there would be no worry of Esme accompanying me to get the cameras.

Carlisle stayed with Shae in the hotel room while Esme and I made the long drive to Gig Harbor. Shae did not take that quietly but there was no power she had that could over rule Carlisle or Esme. Though I do understand why she would want to get out of that ridiculous apartment, its like we're hamsters or something. They only take us out to play for an hour out of the whole day.

"Your mother misses you, honey." Esme gave me a sad smile, and continued in her flawlessly beautiful voice. "I know it's awful. I was in a similar position once but it overtook me and I…I did something that no person should ever submit themselves to. I'm so proud of you for being strong, and I hope you will never consider anything like what I did to myself."

"I…I know that she-she's happy." I stammered. I was shocked at how easily she spoke about that part of her. "Do you mind my asking, what exactly happened?"

She took a breath. "I lost a child. All that I ever wanted was a family to love and protect and have as my own and when my baby died, I couldn't bear the thought that I hadn't been enough to protect her and that I no longer had a child to hold and comfort. It was the worst pain imaginable." She wore a blank, unreadable expression.

"So how…uh, when did you meet Carlisle?" I didn't know if asking her how she became a vampire would be offensive, plus I would sound like a patient in a psych ward.

"When I didn't succeed in ending that pain, Carlisle rescued me." She pressed her lips together and then smiled. "Now I have a beautiful family. We are certainly unconventional in how we were brought together and how we live but I love Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Jasper and Edward like they are my own. And Carlisle, Carlisle has been more than a husband or a friend or a rescuer to me. Words are inadequate in describing what he means to me." She stretched her hand out slowly and curled her fingers over mine. "You're so brave. I wish I could have been strong like you are."

Tears stung my eyes and my throat closed up so that I couldn't respond. I finally let the tears fall and with them went the chokehold on my neck. "Thank you, for telling me." I sniffed. "I cant imagine."

"Oh, honey. Don't try, it'll just make you even more upset, be happy. Remember, you're traveling to Europe. Your mother is in love. You have a whole life ahead of you and trying to grasp such a horrible concept will make your life bleak and hopeless." She squeezed my hand and looked back out the windshield.

Rain in Washington is a strange sight. I imagine walking through rain in Washington is like walking through a dense cloud. Raindrops don't fall hard and splash across the glass. Instead, a thick layer of mist is constantly laying itself over every surface that passes through it.

And at that moment we pulled out from under that blanket of mist and a sliver of sun came down upon the car. "See? The sun is shining for you, darling. Don't let it down now."

I knew that it wasn't but it felt good to know that she cared about me enough to even make the connection.

**Bella's POV**

Hunting with Alice was almost the exact opposite of going with Edward. She wasn't as worried about what would happen to me, which I don't mind, and she decided that she better feed because we would be leaving soon so she was also thinking about herself as well. Also, as I had expected, I didn't have the burning desire to jump her so my thoughts were clearer than before.

We drove out of Forks for fifteen or twenty minutes, I'd forgotten how much she used to make me laugh. We giggled all the way to a to a rest stop and had to wait for a couple of minutes to let ourselves calm down.

"Ok girlie, ready to go?"

"More than." My mouth started to water again, bitter and deliciously warm.

"Lets get to it then." She leapt gracefully from her seat and I followed suit. "Race ya."

I wasn't exactly sure where we were racing to which made beating Alice by a lot nearly impossible. The rush, even without winning, was incredible. It was freedom like nothing else and I had never, in my entire life, experienced finesse and grace like I did when I ran.

"Whoooh, you're fast!" Alice spun easily out of her sprint and into a bouncy walk.

"Really?" I couldn't help but smile to myself.

"Hey, now. Don't get all cocky on me. It's just cause you're a youngen, just wait till you're old like me…or Carlisle." She let out a low whistle and continued on. "But that isn't to say that we're weaker because of our age, you're just stronger because of yours. You dig?"

I shot her a quizzical look.

"Damn Emmett and his stupid 'cool' talk." She went on to mutter something obscene.

Within minutes of our aimless wanderings, the thick, warm, luscious smell of blood began to take me over.

"Hey so do you want to just go for it, or wait for something a little better to come along. Which it will, we just have to be patient." She was still smiling but I knew I wasn't. I wanted that blood and I wanted it bad.

"Cant wait, gotta go." I said quickly and took off so fast that when I looked back only seconds later, Alice was a good 100 yards behind me, weaving between the trees.

After I had caught that first scent, it was easy to track whatever it was. Later, Alice told me I will be able to distinguish smell but for now it all just smells good. But I could still tell it was delicious and before long, I could hear hoof beats.

I knew I was getting close when I could hear rushed, panicky breathing. At the same time, I could feel Alice's presence growing closer by the second. I slowed to a dead stop as a heartbeat became apparent and then sort of freaked myself out by _not_ breathing heavily after such a long run.

I stopped breathing, knowing that it wouldn't affect me, to mask myself even further. Unconsciously, I prepared myself for the uncomfortable light headedness of oxygen deprivation but it never came. Weird, I thought.

I stood still and let the noise consume me to find where it was coming from. As soon as I had an idea, I took off and within seconds I caught the white of a tail or something.

I saw light flash off on an eye and I launched myself at the source of that delicious scent, sinking my teeth into its flesh. I looked up and found the eye that had lead me there. In it there was a pain that was deer than my teeth and the venom they had let into the animal's body, there was a sadness. But regardless, I drank deeply, noting the convenience of not needing to breathe as a steady flow of blood washed through me.

Alice was near, I could feel her presence. You know how you can tell that someone is staring at you? That's what it felt like.

I was glad she didn't bother me though because I got to enjoy the warm, thick taste in peace and it completely calmed my thoughts and worries about Claire and Shae.

When I had finished, I stayed crouched and inspected the animal whose life I had taken. A deer, again, laid before me, its eyes open this time. I turned around before I freaked myself out.

"The sort of guilty part subsides." Alice stepped out from behind a tree and glanced at my kill. "Ugh. Deer. Its like, I don't know, you know when you really like a song and then you listen to it a hundred times and you hate it? That's how I am with deer…times 1000."

I smelled the blood of the deer on my lips and raised an eyebrow at her. "If I get sick of that… I don't even know."

She just smiled slyly and changed the subject. "You should buy blood red lipstick. That's a gorgeous color on you. Makes you look like a movie star."

I licked my lips, "Well that's a plus."

"That was kinda menacing. Your teeth are _deadly_." She was up in my face, "You still thirsty or can we go?"

"Are you not?"

"I'm sick of deer. One of these days we'll take you some place decent." She turned on her heel. "Shall we?

**Claire's POV**

Esme and Carlisle told us they'd be by to take us to the airport and see us off before they left as soon as Jasper and Edward showed up at our room. Edward looked pretty put off at being there but Jasper noticed me watching him and everyone was much more light hearted after that.

"We came by to say bye before you two headed off on your adventure." Jasper said hesitantly.

"That's so sweet of both of you!" Shae looked truly honored to have them both there.

"Sure." Edward shrugged, "We got you a couple of things we thought you might need."

My mind immediately went to tampons. We would need tampons. But they wouldn't get us anything like that, it would be too weird. "You shouldn't have." I said politely and Edward gave me a strange look.

What a jerk, I thought and looked away from him. OH! I looked over at him apologetically and he chuckled. I forgot, I thought. Wow, that's handy, its like having a whole separate conversation.

"We just want you two to have a good time." Jasper looked between us. "So here's a couple of duffel bags, two back packs, candles, a couple of those super hard plastic water bottles, Egyptian cotton sheets and those down pillows that you can stuff in a bottle cap or something like that."

We both stared back at him blankly.

Edward cut in. "Duffel bags for packing, neither of you has a suitcase. Backpacks for traveling with your stuff close to you so it doesn't get stolen. Candles, per Alice's suggestion, apparently humans think hotel rooms smell bad and candles make them smell better. How she knows that, I have no idea. The water bottles were on sale and the sheets and pillows were for cleanliness. Those hotel people _say_ they clean sheets but they're still pretty dirty."

"Well, thanks guys." Shae smiled too broadly.

"Oh!" Jasper reached in his back pocket. "And we got you guys these passes. They're like those all access passes at Disney Land but for Europe. They basically work as train tickets for every train until Austria or something like that."

"No way!" I shrieked. "Those things are like a thousand bucks _each_. That's amazing!"

Shae's face changed from confusion to comprehension. "You mean like, we can just flash our little all access passes and go _anywhere_."

"Well there are a few limitations but that's pretty much the goal." Edward was clearly amused by how excited we were getting.

"We're gonna get to see _every_ country in Europe?" I wanted to kiss someone I was so excited. The only piece of a foreign country I had ever experienced was Tijuana, Mexico and it was not pretty. I didn't go to like, party, I went to save a friend from too much partying.

"If that is what you wish." Edward said beautifully. I loved his word choice, it made me feel like I was in an old movie or something.

"Oh my god, yes! That's what we wish. Give me those." She tried to snatch the papers from Japer's hand but he moved out of her way at incomprehensible speed. She looked sheepishly at him on the other side of the room. "Please?"

"Much better." He smiled and held them between his thumb and forefinger. "These aren't the actual tickets. You're going to give these; a confirmation code, user name and password, to the travel management…place in the airport in England when you land. They will exchange them for the real thing."

"So its basically the same." She said and eyed the papers greedily. "I've wanted to see Paris and Rome and Milan- and Prague since I was like…born."

"Well, we'll be here with you two until Emmett, Rose and Alice come to say their goodbyes." Jasper said with a tone of finality and heaved himself onto the cheap hotel mattress.

Edward turned toward me. "Did your mother ever tell you about the time I saved her from a murderous vampire tracker?" He grinned. "She still has a scar."

**Bella's POV**

I spent the car ride home telling Alice the story of Claire's birth. It's not a very exciting or suspenseful tale but she was fascinated and it made me happy to know that I would always have that solid memory of her.

When we pulled up to the house I had fallen love with Edward in right behind Carlisle and Esme.

"Hello girls." Esme said brightly. "Good hunting?"

Alice made a noise similar to a cat coughing up a fur ball. "Deer."

Esme's face turned. "Oh I'm sorry dear. We really should find somewhere with more variety."

"Yeah. You guys never told me where we were going after Claire left for whats it called, _Europe_." I said bitterly.

"We'll discuss it when the time comes." Carlisle eluded the question, "But for now, we are pressed for time and Alice, Rosalie and Emmett must prepare for their goodbyes to the girls."

He turned to Alice, "Could you think of something nice to give them as a sort of farewell present? Emmett and Rose are leaving in an hour, I expect you'll be with them.

Alice's eyes lit up. "Oh trust me. I know something. Bella? Care to join me in my closet?"

I snorted. "As long as you keep your hands off of me and my clothes on."

"I cant make that promise." She smiled with her sparkley white, razor sharp teeth bared and darted inside.

I shrugged when Carlisle and Esme laughed and took off into the house.

**A/N: Sorry its kind of a crap ending. And there was no Edward/Bell action in this chapter at ALL which totally sucks but next chapter our two human friends leave us so its just gonna be my favorite vampires (which means all of them, obviously). I hope after reading this you all stick with me, I've been working on this chapter on and off for, oh, I'd say seven or eight months so it's a bit choppy. I promise the next one will be more exciting. 3 BITTEN**

OH! I ALMOST FORGOT. LOVE UNINTERRUPTED WILL CONTINUE AFTER SHE'S BEAUTIFUL HAS ENDED FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE WONDERING BUT HAVE NOT YET CHECKED MY PROFILE


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